A New Path
by tylerlb14
Summary: The story of four new students to Beacon. The quite Shiruba, the bubbly Mori, the cautious Hikari, and the smart-aleck Aoi. These four attempt to make their place in the world, and may just get caught up in something much bigger than they realize. Will they be able to make new friends, and to make their mark on the world? Or will they miss their chance? *CH 1's slow & maybe romance
1. CH 1: The First Night

_**Chapter One: The First Night**_

"That's quite a bit larger than I thought it would be" thought Shiruba as he looked out of the tree he was sitting in. He watched as various new students like himself wandered around the campus grounds, awaiting the orientation ceremony. "Maybe a bit too big for my tastes." Shiruba was never one for crowds or large open areas. In fact, he hated the thought of it. "There are too many people..but at least it's better than the streets back in the city."

"Hey!" being jolted from his thought, Shiruba looked down below the tree, to where someone was calling from. That someone would be Mori, Shiruba's younger sister, who was attending Beacon as well this year. Standing there in her casual get up, a simple T-shirt and jeans, with a jacket that went about halfway down to her waist, Mori was looking up at him with that goofy looking grin she always wore. "Shiru! Come on down from there! Let's go explore!" she called out.

Sighing, Shiruba took one last look around, before gripping his cane and tipping backwards, falling down out of the tree. Before hitting the ground, Shiruba reached out with the cane, latching onto one of the lower branches. Using the momentum, he swung away from the ground, detaching his cane from the branch and performing a backflip before he hit the ground, tumbling into a roll and landing on his feet. Standing up as if this was normal, which it was, in fact, normal for him, Shiruba walked over to Mori.

"Can't you climb down the tree like a normal person?" Mori jokingly teased Shiruba, "You know, you won't be able to make many friends if people think that you are a tree-climbing weirdo."

"Now, you know I'm not looking to get friends, Mori. We are here to learn", rolling his eyes and chuckling, Shiruba replies. "Just like those two over there should, handling Dust like that. If they aren't careful, they.."BOOM! Having been cut off by the sound of an explosion, Shiruba started to chuckle as two girls picked themselves up off the ground, one of them yelling very loudly at the other. "Oops, too late."

Jokingly punching Shiruba in the arm, Mori replied, "Well, doesn't that look like fun. Why don't we wander over there? Maybe get into a scuffle, make some friends out of it?"

Sighing, Shiruba responded "Again, not looking for friends. Anyway, it's almost time for the ceremony, we should find the auditorium."

Pouting, Mori followed him, "Aww, you're no fun Shiru!" And together, the two headed off for the auditorium.

Having reached the auditorium, Shiruba immediately began taking note of the different people that would become his classmates. Once again, he saw the two girls from before, arguing, but this time there were two more girls with them. One of them, a tall blonde, noticed Shiruba looking towards them, and winked at him before turning back to the others.

Ignoring her, Shiruba continued to scan the room's other occupants. Noticing a rather large individual, he took note of how he, like Shiruba, was one of the only ones to still have their weapon on them. Unlike Shiruba's cane however, the guy had a much more common weapon, a hand and a half sword. The only other person he saw with a weapon would be his sister, who like Shiruba always carried her weapon with her. Mori's weapon, Yajū was different from most in that it didn't have a full transformation like others. As a one handed sword with a blade only on one side, that left the other side open for the semi-automatic shotgun that completed her weapon. The only minimal transformation it had was to change the cross guard and pommel of the sword to a handgrip and stock. Yajū was resting in its normal spot in a loose sling on Mori's back.

In contrast to that, Shiruba's weapon, named Tsukiakari, was like many others in that it had two separate modes. Besides the 5' tall cane form, Tsukiakari also became a suppressed PDR rifle complete with an angled fore grip and a small telescopic scope. Shiruba was curious as to just what kind of weapon this individual had, but his thoughts were interrupted as a man who appeared to be the headmaster approached the microphone on the stand.

"I'll…keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills—and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But, I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose—direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Having finished his speech, the headmaster stepped away from the microphone, and turned to leave the stand. From here, the students were told by the deputy-headmistress, a "Glynda Goodwitch", that they had the rest of the day to themselves before the curfew.

Later that night, in the ballroom where all of the first years were sleeping for the first night, Shiruba was getting ready for bed when he was hit in the head with a pillow. Looking up, he saw three other guys all looking at him. "Hey, stupid fox boy!" the one who seemed to be the leader said, "Who let an animal like you in a place like this? You should go back home before you get hurt!"

Ignoring them, Shiruba turned away and continued to get his things together for bed. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" called out the leader. At this point, the leader had knocked Shiruba over, and towered over him with his two buddies, glaring at Shiruba. Calmly getting up, Shiruba looked the leader in the eye without saying a word, daring the bully to shove him. Angered by this turn in events, the bully took a step forward, only to be blocked by Mori, who put herself between the two.

Visibly confused, the bully looked at Mori. "What are you doing, protecting that faunus?" He questioned her.

"First of all, he's my brother," Mori replied, "and secondly, I'm not protecting him. I'm keeping him from kicking all of your collective asses, so I suggest you move on before something happens." Standing there, she continued glaring at him until the bully backed down, walking away with a "Whatever, let's go boys" tossed over his shoulder.

Turning to look at Shiruba, Mori exclaims, "Really? First night, and already getting into a fight? This place is gonna be fun!"

Sighing, Shiruba responded, "You enjoy fighting way too much for what can be considered healthy." Even as he was saying this, however, he couldn't hide the slight smirk he had. Motioning to her, he said "Come on, it's getting late. You should head back to the girls side of the room, and get some rest. Who knows what may happen tomorrow?"

With this, the night came to a close as both Shiruba and Mori went to their separate sides of the room.

**Author's note—**

**For those of you wondering about Shiruba's cane, it gets its inspiration from the cane wielded by Sly Cooper, from the game series by the same name. Thus, it is not a "walking" cane per say, but much larger in size, being about 5 feet tall, almost as tall as Shiruba himself. The style of it is more like Ruby's scythe rather with its hard, straight edges than like Ozpin's cane, as it is a much more technology based transformation. **


	2. CH 2: Strange and Deadly Encounters

_**Chapter Two: A Strange and Deadly Encounter**_

~The next day~

Standing on the side of a cliff overlooking the Emerald forest, Shiruba was patiently waiting for the initiation to begin. He was standing on a square piece of what appeared to be metal, he stood there in his full combat gear, which included a gray hooded cloak with slits cut for his ears, a combat vest underneath the open front end of the cloak, a black half face mask loose on his neck that he could pull up whenever he wanted to, and a pair of combat boots, complete with shin guards. Quite frankly, he was relieved to be back in his gear, as he never felt quite right without it. With Tsukiakari strapped to his back, Shiruba absentmindedly started to play with it, as he looked down the row at the other new first years.

A few people down the line from him was Mori, standing there in her own gear, with a bored expression on her face. Shiruba wasn't surprised she was bored, as she wasn't one to just stand around waiting, she would much rather be knee deep in a fight. Her own gear included a cloak much like his, but dark green in color. The left arm was covered in armor from the shoulder down to her fingertips, but the right side was bare, the cloak having the length of a short sleeve T-shirt. The only other thing she wore on her right arm was a single fingerless glove, complete with wrist bracer and also dark green in color. Like Shiruba, she had on a pair of combat boots and shin guards, but rather than a pair of dark cargo pants like what Shiruba wore, Mori opted for a regular pair of jeans, stitched with stronger material to withstand the effects of being on a battlefield. She had her weapon, Yajū, slung over her shoulder in its loose leather sheath.

Quite the force to be reckoned with, Yajū was a long, one-sided sword. The other side sported a powerful, semi-automatic shotgun capable of using many different kinds of Dust rounds as well as the standard array. However, what made it such a deadly weapon was the fact that the transformation it took to go from a sword to the shotgun was very minimal, taking almost no time at all. Having seen the effects this had up close on the battlefield, Shiruba was immensely grateful he never had to go up against Mori. She was one of the few people he wasn't confident in being able to beat. "Well, one of the few people of my age," Shiruba thought to himself. "there are plenty of people out there who could probably wipe the floor with my tail."

Further down the line, Shiruba noticed the large individual from before. Instead of what he wore before, the man now had on a large set of heavy-looking armor, with a fairly large shield slung over his back into the sword he carried the previous day. Interestingly enough, the sword seemed to be sheathed inside of the shield itself. Taking note of the large knight, Shiruba's thoughts were interrupted as Professor Ozpin approached the group.

As Ozpin began to speak about what was to come, Shiruba took notice of the metal panel he was standing on. From what happened to the group before his, he assumed that they were to be launched into the forest, from which he would have to meet up with Mori, and make their way to the ruins.

"…and the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." finished Ozpin. At this point, Shiruba's mind took a double take. "First person to make eye contact with?" he thought. "I HAVE to make sure that it's Mori that I get teamed up with." Shiruba had an ingrained lack of trust in others, and Mori was one of the few he trusted. Quite possibly, she was the only one that he really trusted, especially as a partner in a fight. There was no one else here that he would want to be partners with, especially not for four years.

At this point in time, the first of the students was launched into the air. Readying Tsukiakari, Shiruba positioned himself into a crouched position with the cane extended behind him. Looking over as the others were launched, Shiruba saw Mori flash a smile at him before being launched up into the air. A few moments later, Shiruba felt the plate shift as he was thrown into the air above the Emerald forest. As he flew through the air, he peered around, trying to catch any glimpse of his sister, so that he might be able to reach her quickly after landing. Perturbed, Shiruba couldn't see any sign of her.

"She must have landed already" Shiruba thought to himself. "I'll just have to find her on the ground." As he neared the tree line, Shiruba readied his cane for his landing strategy. Ducking under a branch, Shiruba shifted his weight to cause him to turn in a slow front flip. As he completed the first full rotation, he extended Tsukiakari catching a branch. As he spun around the branch, he used the momentum to change his direction towards the ground. Catching another branch at the base of tree, Shiruba swung, and releasing the branch he shot forward along the ground, before rolling on his shoulder and landing in a crouched position, Tsukiakari having taken on its alternate form.

A compact personal defense rifle, Shiruba has taken out all the stops in tricking out his weapon. Complete with a suppressor, an angled foregrip, and a small telescopic scope, Tsukiakari was quite the proficient weapon in the hands of someone as capable as Shiruba was. Keeping an eye on his surroundings, Shiruba took a moment to get his bearings straight. Peering through the scope, he realized just how thick the forest floor was. "Great..." he thought to himself, "It's gonna take a while to find Mori in all of this crap." Standing up, Shiruba changed Tsukiakari back into its cane form, and began the long trek towards the ruins.

Continuing on through the forest, Shiruba became distinctly aware of the lack of wildlife. Hell, even signs of life, such as bird calls, were all but non-existent. Gripping Tsukiakari more firmly, Shiruba squared up for a possible attack, when an ursa came crashing through the bushing, roaring in rage. Preparing for battle, Shiruba was shocked as the ursa simply ran past him, seemingly taking no note of the faunus. Dumbfounded, he turned to watch the ursa go tromping off into the forest, with someone RIDING the damn thing. "ONWARD MY CHARIOT! REN IS WAITING!" the mysterious rider called out.

Jaw hanging loosely in shock, Shiruba watched the odd pair continue out of sight. Shaking his head in disbelief, his ears pricked as he heard a stick break behind him. Immediately changing Tsukiakari to pdr mode, he spun into a crouched position, letting a burst off directly into the chest of a beowolf. Around him, a pack of them howled in anger.

"How the hell did I let them get around me without noticing it?" Shiruba mentally questioned himself. "I must be losing my edge." Shifting his center of gravity, he waited for the beowolves to make the first move. As the first beowolf charged him, Shiruba immediately put two rounds into its chest, and one in its head. Around him, the others charged him. Emptying what was left in his clip, Shiruba took out two more of them before the beowolves were upon him. Throwing himself to the side, Shiruba again changed Tsukiakari's form to a cane as he rolled out of the path of the wolves. Charging them, he began placing his blows in critical spots such as the shins and the backs of the knees, in an attempt to destroy their mobility. Leaping clear of the counterattack, Shiruba escaped unharmed, as the beowolve's claw's tore through the air where he had been a moment before. Reloading Tsukiakari, Shiruba stood up and lowered the weapon at the beasts.

Preparing to strike again, Shiruba felt a brush of wind behind him. Activating his semblance, he disappeared from where he had been, much to the confusion of the beowolf that had managed to get behind him. Unable to comprehend what had happened, the beowolf never felt the bullet enter the back of his skull. Now behind the beowolf, Shiruba put two rounds into the skull of his would-be killer, before returning his weapon to cane form, Shiruba leaned heavily on it, immensely exhausted from using his semblance. A power he had dubbed "Phase-Jump", it allowed him to traverse a short distance near instantaneously, though at the cost of a large amount of his stamina. As he was now, Shiruba could only use Phase-Jump once before needing to rest, meaning it was a last ditch effort on his part.

With only three beowolves left of the pack, Shiruba was confident he could take them out without serious risk. What he didn't expect to happen was as the three were charging him, the third one, older and smarter than its two allies, dropped back a pace behind the others. Unloading what was left in his clip once again, Shiruba dropped the first two before hearing a click emanate from his weapon. The third beowolf roared as it jumped over the now lifeless bodies of its fallen comrades. Shifting to cane form, Shiruba wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the attack, still feeling the effects of his semblance from before. Having been knocked to the ground, Shiruba barely held the beast back with his cane, the deadly fangs inches from his face.

The beowolf reared his head back, howling in victory for having overcome this deadly prey. Looking down, it prepared to issue the killing blow. However, there was a peculiar feeling in its chest. It took the beowolf a second to realize just what it was that it was feeling. It…was pain.

Looking up in shock, Shiruba saw what appeared to be a large grappling hook pierce the chest of the beowolf about to tear his flesh apart. The beowolf looked down at him in shock, before being forcibly yanked off of Shiruba. Craning his neck around, he watched as the beowolf went flying into the bushes. He heard it screech once, a god-awful noise, and then silence. Still laying on his back, Shiruba peered into the bushes.

He was shocked to see a pair of pale blue eyes staring back at him, looking him dead in the eyes. Shiruba gulped once, unsure of what was about to happen.

_**A/N- Well how's that for a cliffhanger of a chapter? Not too shabby if I say so myself. I wonder whose eyes these may be?**_

_**For those of you wondering, the pdr form of Tsukiakari only holds at maximum twenty rounds of a low-caliber, subsonic round. This would explain why Shiruba wasn't able to simply lay waste to the entire pack of wolves in one go.**_

_**As always, reviews and comments are much appreciated! So please, don't be shy, and tell me what you thought! Chapter three should be on the way before too long.**_

_**Happy reading everyone!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	3. CH 3: The Fox Finds a Friend

Laying on his back, Shiruba had one thought running through his mind. "…Shiiiittt!" Laying on his back, he was staring into a pair of pale blue eyes. Looking up at his rescuer, Shiruba pondered the two possibilities there were. Either he was just saved by another student, and having looked them in the eyes, ruined his chances for being partners with his sister...or he had just met something much, much worse than a beowolf. Shiruba couldn't decide which of the two options was worse.

Rolling over, Shiruba struggled to his feet using Tsukiakari for support. Still tired from using his semblance, and the fight with the beowolves, Shiruba wasn't confident in his abilities to escape what creature was before him. Slapping a fresh clip into Tsukiakari, he prepared to flee from whatever was lurking in the bushes, when a girl stepped out of the bushes rather than a monster. Shiruba recognized the grappling hook at one end of the girls' weapon as the one that had saved his life moments before. The rest of the weapon seemed to be a large scythe, though it didn't seem capable of changing forms like his Tsukiakari.

As the girl walked towards him, Shiruba took stock of her appearance. A little shorter than he was, Shiruba was surprised to see a pair of black, leathery bat ears upon her head. Wearing a black, gothic styled dress cut above her knees with a pair of combat boots, the only armor she seemed to be wearing was what looked like it was part of a knight's set of armor, covering her left arm much like his sister's armor. The newcomer's armor, however, only traveled about halfway up her bicep rather than all the way up her arm. In sharp contrast to her ears, her white hair was tied into pony-tails on either side of her head, going down the entire length of her back.

Standing before Shiruba, she looked at him, seemingly curious but at the same time very cautious. Sighing, Shiruba scratched the back of one of his fox ears as he debated what to say to the girl. Her eyes getting round, she seemed to have just realized that Shiruba, like her, was a faunus. Feeling a bit less worn out than he did before, Shiruba stood up straight and decided to be the first to speak.

"Thanks for the help back there, another minute and I'd have been in that guy's stomach" Shiruba quietly said to her. "I'm Shiruba, Shiruba Fokkusu."

Looking at him for a minute, the girl responded "Hikari Gurē." As she said this, she hefted the large scythe onto her shoulder, holding onto it with one hand.

Impressed, Shiruba decided to take his chances with this girl. "Well, Hikari, it seems we are now partners." Shiruba said as he held out his hand.

Gripping her scythe tightly, the girl reached out tentatively and grasped Shiruba's hand, shaking it firmly. Shiruba was surprised at just how firm her hand was. "Just goes to show, never judge a book by its cover." he thought to himself.

.Looking up at him, Hikari addressed him. "I hope we can work well together, Shiruba" she quietly said. Having said this, she took a step back, and Shiruba watched as the grappling hook at the end of her scythe folded up, and reeled back into a cavity, causing the scythe to have a regular end. "I would never have noticed that, if had hadn't seen the hook beforehand." Shiruba thought to himself.

Turning towards the direction of the ruins, Shiruba began to walk, using Tsukiakari to support him, as he still wasn't back up to full strength. "What was that?" he heard behind him. Assuming they were about to be attacked again, he froze, changing Tsukiakari back into rifle form, when he felt Hikari's hand on his shoulder. "No, I mean before. During the fight with the beowolves, when you were about to get hit in the back, you just disappeared. What was that?" she questioned him.

Returning Tsukiakari to cane form, he turned toward her. "That," he responded, "was my semblance. I call it "Phase-Jump". It allows me to cover a short distance in an instant, handy for me to avoid most attacks. Without it, that beowolf would probably have torn my back to shreds."

Still curious, she continued on. "Why didn't you use that when the last one attacked you, then?" she asked, as they both turned and continued towards the ruins.

"Though, phase-jump is useful, it is very costly, using up most of the energy I have at any one point. As of now, I can only use it once without having to rest afterward. It's not very practical to use in real combat yet, but I have my hopes." Shiruba answered her. "What about you? That's the most peculiar scythe I have ever seen, and I've seen some crazy weapons in my time." he asked.

Lifting her weapon up, she showed the scythe to him. "This is Alkamra. Made of a strong but light alloy, it's easier for me to use this than many other weapons" she explained. "Though lacking in ranged capabilities, the grappling hook that you saw earlier gives me a way to balance the playing field." Pressing a button on the lower half of the scythe, a section at the end of the scythe opened up, and the grappling hook extended out. Holding it up for Shiruba to see, Hikari cautiously took a step forward.

Examining the hook, Shiruba whistled quietly. "I sure wouldn't want to be caught by that. The hook looks almost as sharp as the scythe blade."

Pressing the button to retract the hook, Hikari motioned towards Shiruba's cane. "What about that cane?" she asked. "From what I've seen, its alternate form is a small rifle, right?"

Shiruba nodded and held up the cane. "This is Tsukiakari. As you've seen, it's also a gun, a PDR to be precise." Changing his weapon to rifle form, Shiruba showed her the weapon. "The subsonic rounds let me use a suppressor, but lack in up front killing power."

Nodding as the two continued on their way, Hikari responded, "That would make sense as to why you were using so many shots on the beowolves. I was wondering why they seemed to be walking through most of your hits."

Hearing a roar off to the side, the two immediately gripped their weapons, ready to be attacked by another Grimm. Shiruba turned to look at Hikari. "I'll move up first, and let you know if it's safe. I can get pretty close without getting caught."

Ignoring him, Hikari pointed the lower end of her scythe off in the distance, and launched her grappling hook. A moment later, she shot away, leaving Shiruba behind as she rocketed toward the direction the roar came from. Cursing, Shiruba changed Tsukiakari to rifle form and chased after her.

A few minutes later, Shiruba caught sight of Hikari sitting up in a tree, watching something in the distance. Using Tsukiakari in it's cane form, Shiruba scaled his way up the tree to join her. "What the hell was that?" He exclaimed as he sat next to her. "Why the hell didn't you at least wait for me?"

Not bothering to look at him, Hikari answered "You were too slow. Anyways, look over there. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Hikari pointed off into the distance.

"Well...fuck," Shiruba thought to himself, "so much for getting along with my new partner." He would have so much rather teamed up with Mori. Looking in the direction Hikari indicated, Shiruba was shocked to see some of the other students. This however, was not the cause of his shock. What he wasn't expecting was for the students to be fighting a deathstalker. As if that wasn't enough, the largest nevermore Shiruba had ever seen was flying around, seemingly harassing the group.

"We need to go help them, there's no way they can fight those things off themselves." Hikari announced as she prepared to leap from the tree. Before she could however, Shiruba grabbed her arm tightly.

"What are you doing? We have to go help them!" Hikari exclaimed.

Shaking his head, Shiruba said "They seem to be handling it well enough on their own. Besides, you should have noticed those aren't the only Grimm in the area either. From what I can hear, there seems to be a large pack of Grimm heading this direction, most likely they heard the sounds of the fighting over here. Those guys will be much worse off if a pack of beowolves were to appear. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few ursa with the pack. If you really insist on helping them, we should head off the reinforcements."

Glaring at him, Hikari sighed. "Fine, we'll do it your way. What do you suggest we do?"

"We go over there, and we kick some ass!" answered Shiruba confidently.

Staring at Shiruba for a good few seconds, Hikari cracked a smile, soon followed by full on laughter. After the laughter subsided, Hikari brushed away tears from laughing so hard, she said "Now that's a plan I can get behind! Nice and simple!" Gripping her scythe, Hikari prepared to leap out of the tree once again. "This time, try to keep up!" she said as she let herself fall from the tree, launching her hook off into the distance, and sped off once again.

Leaping from the tree, Shiruba put his skills to use, leaping from tree to tree, sometimes swinging from a branch with his cane. As he continued on his way, he began to wonder. "Just what am I doing?" he thought to himself. "How in the hell am I talking to her normally and casually?" Shiruba never really trusted people, and for good reason. He knew that when in combat, he was able to address others normally. However, back there, he had been talking to Hikari like he would to Mori. Well, maybe not that casually, but much more so than he normally could with people. "What was it about her?" he wondered. What normally made him wary of others, he found to not be a problem with Hikari. "Maybe it's because we are partners I feel I am able to trust her so much."

Hearing Hikari let loose a war cry up ahead, Shiruba assumed she had found the pack of Grimm. "Oh well," he thought to himself, "I'll figure it out some other time." With that, Shiruba launched himself through the trees and into the clearing ahead.

~End Chapter 3

_**A/N- Well guys, what do you think of Hikari? Betcha never heard of a bat-faunus before! Props to my friend, who shall be known simply as N, for coming up with her. Lemme know what you guys think! It really means a lot to hear from those of you guys who read my story, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, guys!**_

_**Chapter Four is in the works, so don't worry, it should be out before too long! Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	4. CH 4: Reunited

~continued from the last chapter

Bursting out of the trees, Shiruba saw a large pack of beowolves. Swinging his cane as he approached the ground, Shiruba managed to smash the skull in of one of them before the beowolves even knew he was there. Using the momentum from his fall, he rolled on his shoulder and broke into a run, changing Tsukiakari into rifle form, and started emptying the clip into any beowolf he could see. Catching sight of Hikari further into the clearing, he began to fight his way over towards her, when she shot of like a rocket, headed directly at him.

"Shit!" Shiruba exclaimed as he dove out of the way, barely managing to avoid the blade of her scythe. "Watch where you swing that damn thing!" he yelled at Hikari as she flew by him. Ignoring his words, Hikari began to fly back and forth across the battlefield. Using her grappling hook not only to pull her towards the beowolves, she also yanked them towards her, slashing them in half as they flew by her.

"Damn it," Shiruba thought, "Does this girl just do whatever the hell she wants?" This was when she did something Shiruba wasn't expecting. Jerking her left arm backwards, and then immediately forward again, a loud click emanated from her gauntlet on her arm. Extending her fist out towards the Grimm, she then unleashed a volley of automatic fire out of the armor, tearing into the bodies of three separate beowolves at the same time.

Turning back towards the beowolves that were focused on him, Shiruba ejected the empty clip, and slapped a fresh one into Tsukiakari. Shifting into a guarding stance, he reverted Tsukiakari back into a cane, and waited for the beowolves to charge him. When the first one attacked, he didn't try to get out of the way. Instead, he waited till the last possible moment, before ducking and sliding to the right. As he did this, he threw out Tsukiakari, latching the hook onto the paw of the beowolf. Tripping the creature, Shiruba used the spinning momentum of this to increase the power behind his cane as he brought it down of the Grimm's skull.

Turning, he saw two more leap forward to attack. Lifting up his rifle, Shiruba charged this group of wolves. Jumping up as the first one reached him, he used his left hand to control himself as he flipped over the wolf, placing the barrel of Tsukiakari against the Grimm's skull and squeezing the trigger as he flipped over it. Just before landing, he again changed Tsukiakari's form, and slid between the second wolf's legs. Catching the beowolf's leg with his cane, Shiruba again tripped this one, before a well-placed blow to the neck of the wolf ended its short life.

As he stood up, another wolf was upon him. Before he could react, he felt a brush of air by his ears as Hikari raced by, once again barely missing Shiruba as she cut down the creature. "Fuck!' Shiruba swore, "I told you to be careful!"

"You be careful!' came the reply, "You're the one getting in my way!" With this, Hikari pumped her arm, reloading the gauntlet, and proceeded to unleash its contents on the few stragglers there were. As she did this however, a pair of large ursa came sprinting out of the tree line. Pointing her gauntlet at the enemies, she tried to gun them down. After the first shot, a loud ***click*** came from the gun. Cursing, she launched herself towards the ursa. These Grimm were smart however, and Hikari barely managed to avoid their claws as she gave up her attack, landing close to Shiruba.

Grabbing her arm to prevent Hikari from attacking again, Shiruba yelled at her. "Damn it! Just slow down for a minute! We aren't gonna be able to get these two without working together! Without nearly killing each other this time!"

Glaring at him, Hikari responded harshly, "Why should I have to work with you? You're just gonna slow me down!" Turning away, she began to walk away from Shiruba.

Quietly, Shiruba then said, "We're partners, aren't we?" Upon hearing this, Hikari froze. "Look," he continued, "Neither of us are happy about this. But we don't have an option here. If we don't set aside our differences, at least for now, one or both of us may get seriously hurt, if not killed." Stamping the lower end of Tsukiakari's cane form on the ground for emphasis, Shiruba stared at Hikari. "We need to fight in a way that both of us can use our skills to help the other."

Turning back to him, Hikari watched Shiruba for a moment, uncertain. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally seemed to come to her sense as one of the ursa roared, charging the both of them. Scattering, the two avoided the attack, and Hikari swung over to where Shiruba was. "Fine," she said to him, "Let's get this over with. What do you have in mind, Mr. Strategist?"

Looking around for a minute, Shiruba came up with a plan that may just get both of them out of here in one piece. Pointing over by a tree off to the side, Shiruba then said, "Hook yourself to that tree, and swing around it. When you do that, use the speed you gain to throw yourself at the ursa closer to us. While you do that, I'll pepper the two with my rifle. That should let you get in close without the two noticing you." Nodding, Hikari turned and ran at an angle to the tree, launching her hook to it, and began her rotation.

Focusing his attention on the two ursa, Shiruba ran in the opposite direction, firing at the ursa as he ran. Making sure to stay close enough to keep their attention, but out of the range of their claws, Shiruba emptied what was left in one of his few remaining clips. Seeing Hikari complete her rotation and launched towards the ursa, a shimmer from in front of the faunus caught his eye. Seemingly to speed up even faster than she had been a moment before, Hikari slammed into the first ursa, cutting off its head in one clean swipe. The other ursa managed to get out of the way at the last second, receiving a large cut in its side as Hikari flew by.

Making a decision on the fly, Shiruba purposely threw himself in front of Hikari. As she flew towards him, He looked her dead in the eye and raised his cane. Seeming to understand his intent, she grinned and nodded. Slamming the bottom of his cane into the ground, Shiruba made sure that Tsukiakari was firmly in place and wouldn't move. Then, at the last second, he ducked, leaning his entire weight into the cane.

Reaching out with her scythe, Hikari caught the hook of his cane, immediately changing her direction, launching her at the ursa again. Unable to avoid her, the ursa roared as it was struck. Further on, Hikari landed, beside her lay the now dead body of the second ursa. Looking to Shiruba, she grinned widely, giving him a thumbs up.

Walking over to Hikari, Shiruba looked down at the corpses of the Grimm. "I gotta say, that wasn't half bad foxy-boy," Hikari said. "Maybe you aren't so bad after all."

"Once you slow down, you're alright too." Responded Shiruba, grinning back. Then he stopped, confused. "There it is again" he thought to himself.

Looking at Shiruba, Hikari cocked her head to the side. "What's up?"

Shaking his head, Shiruba looked off in the distance. "I don't know. It's just weird that I can talk to you so normally. Most people I won't even say a word to, but I don't seem to have that problem with you. It's probably because we are out in the field though."

At this, Hikari's eyes dropped slightly, though not enough to be noticed by Shiruba. Continuing on, Shiruba said "That should give those other guys some breathing room. Let's head to the ruins, we still need to get our relic piece."

"Yeah." Hikari responded, and the two headed off towards the ruins.

~Later

Entering the ruins, Shiruba saw a few empty stone pedestals, while others had what appeared to be chess pieces on them. "These must be the relics the headmaster was talking about." Hikari said behind him. Nodding in agreement, Shiruba walked over to one of the pedestals, and picked up the piece on it. It was a black knight piece, beautifully made. Selecting this as their piece, Shiruba stowed it away in one of his pouches, when the two heard a branch break behind them.

Immediately the both of them spun around, Shiruba leveling his rifle at the source of the noise, while Hikari launched her grappling hook off to the side, ready to avoid an attack should there be one. Both of them stood there quietly, focusing directly where the noise had come, when out of the bushes came none other than...

"Shiru!" exclaimed Mori, "There you are! We were looking all over for you!"

"Mori!" exclaimed Shiruba as he lowered Tsukiakari, having changed it back to cane form. Mori ran up to him, giving him a hug, before pulling away and punching him in the shoulder. Looking around, Shiruba didn't see anyone with her. "Do you have a partner yet?"

"Yeah, he should be here any second now." she answered. Right then, none other than the large knight that Shiruba had noticed before came barreling out of the bushes. "What took ya so long Aoi? Can't keep up in all that armor?" Mori obnoxiously called out to the knight.

"Shut up, you." the knight, Aoi, responded jokingly. "I don't remember you complaining earlier when this armor saved your behind from being a chew toy."

"That was then, and this is now," Mori said. Motioning to Aoi, she said "Now come over here, I got someone for you to meet."

Walking towards the group, the knight took his helmet off, revealing long, dark brown hair that fell down around his shoulders, as well as a thin scar on his left cheek. Shiruba was surprised at himself for not having noticed that earlier. Standing next to Mori, he said "Well, tell me. Who is the fox and the bat?"

Shifting uncomfortably at being called "the bat", Hikari looked away, before looking at Shiruba. "Hey," said Mori, punching Aoi in the arm. "Be nice, this is my brother Shiru, and her, I don't know, but I'm betting she's his partner." Seeing Shiru nod confirmation, she continued "See? Now you have to be nice to me, or my brother will beat you up."

Rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, Shiruba addressed the knight, "Ignore her, she can take good care of herself when it comes to other people treating her in ways she doesn't like. As she said, I'm Shiruba Fokkusu, Mori's elder brother, and this is Hikari Gure, my partner." Standing behind Shiruba, Hikari waved to the others of the group without saying a word.

Nodding to Hikari, Aoi said "I'm Mori's new partner, Aoi Ikari. Not much to say, I guess. I'll try not to break your sister too bad." This last part he said to Shiruba, a grin on his face.

Laughing, Shiruba responded "I'd be surprised if you could. She may seem small, but that just means it's easier for her to punch you in the nuts."

"Shiru!" exclaimed Mori. "Shut up you dumb fox-boy!" she continued as she tweaked one of his fox ears.

"Ok, ok, just don't grab the ears," laughed Shiruba. "Well, have you guys got your piece yet?"

"That's what we are here for, smart one," answered Mori as she walked over, picking up a black rook piece. "Now that we've got that, let's head back." Nodding, Aoi replaced his helmet, and together the group headed back to the cliff, which turned out to be a rather uneventful trip.

_**A/N~ Well there you have it people! All of the main OC's have been introduced! Credit to my friend "J" For creating Aoi, as well as becoming my editor! I've had a blast writing this story so far, and can't wait to see where it goes next! What do you guys think will happen? Let me know! All comments are appreciated, so let me know what you think! Chapter 5 will be out soon, but not as quickly as the other chapter have been.**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	5. CH 5: Recalling Memories

~End of the initiation ceremony

As he looked at his newly formed group, Shiruba was pleasantly surprised to be placed in the same one as Mori. The reason for this being that two of the other groups of students failed the initiation, and so the black knight piece was paired with the black rook piece, and so team MASH was created. Mori flashed a grin at him with the announcement, and then before he knew it, the ceremony was over, and the groups were left to go find their new dorm rooms and get settled in.

Entering the dorm, Mori and Hikari immediately called dibs on the two top bunks. "Aoi's too big to get up there," Mori stated, "and Hikari is a bat, she'd rather be higher up, I'm sure." With that, the sleeping arrangements were made. Shiruba would get the bunk below Hikari's, and Aoi was below Mori, so as to keep the partners together.

Stowing most of his gear in his chest at the foot of his bed, Shiruba replaced Tsukiakari onto his back, ready to be used at a moment's notice. Looking around the room, he watched as Mori and Aoi did the same with their weapons, however Aoi was once again leaving the shield behind. Noticing Shiruba looking over towards him, Aoi motioned him over to him. "Shield's too bulky to walk around with all the time, which is why I leave it in my room when I'm not out on a mission." he explained.

"What's with you, Shiru?" Shiruba looked over to Mori, who was sitting on her bunk, having already stowed away her things. "I'm surprised you are talking with Aoi and Hikari. It's not like you to talk to people other than me" she continued. Shiruba shrugged. He didn't really know the reason either.

At this point, Shiruba's stomach had begun growling. "I'm gonna head to the cafeteria, and see if I can get any food. You coming with me, Mori?" he asked her.

Mori shook her head. "No thanks, I already ate, I'll be fine for a while." Nodding, Shiruba turned and left the room.

Mori watched as he left the room, before letting out a large sigh. Aoi glanced over at her with a questioning gaze. "So… What did you mean when you said that you were surprised he was talking to Hikari and I?" Aoi asked her. "He seemed just fine to me." At this, Hikari perked up, interested to know more about the boy who had been chosen as the team leader. Shiruba hadn't said so much as a word to them since arriving at the dorm, but neither had he avoided them. He just simply didn't speak.

Looking over at the other, Mori started to explain. "Well, you remember how I told you that he and I are siblings?" The others nodded at this. "Well" she continued, "we aren't siblings by blood. He's obviously a faunus, and I am a human. We met on the streets. I never knew my parents, so I had been alone my entire life. One day, Shiruba found me, and we've been together ever since." She looked off into the distance outside the window, as she recalled her past. "He's the reason I'm here now. Without him, I would never have gone to school. But, anyway, the reason he doesn't talk a lot is because he doesn't trust people very much. At all really."

A curious look on his face, Aoi sat down. "I wonder what happened to him to make him act that way. It doesn't seem like he hates people, or is out for something."

"Even I don't know the answer to that one," Mori responded. "We got attacked and mugged quite often when we lived out on the streets, but that doesn't seem to me like the reason he is the way he is. I wonder if it has something to do with his family. He's never once said a word to me about it, and I never asked. Still, I'm curious about it." Mori trailed off. "He seems to be ok with you guys, though. I kind of understand with Aoi, seeing as how I introduced him to Shiruba. But, he seems to respect you Hikari. What happened out there?"

Looking over at Mori, Hikari thought for a second before answering. "Well, I did save his life." At this, Mori's jaw dropped as she spluttered. Ignoring her, Hikari continued. "It's either that, or the part where we took down a pack of beowolves and some ursa."

Staring wide-eyed at Hikari, Mori didn't know what to say. Aoi also seemed surprised by this statement. "An entire pack of beowolves, and ursa?" he asked, seeming to sit a little bit straighter. "Maybe I underestimated that fox."

"That doesn't matter!" Mori cut in before Aoi could say more. "What do you mean, you saved his life? Shiruba is extremely careful about getting into those kind of situations!"

Pausing, Hikari looked over at Mori. "At the time that the pack surrounded him, Shiruba was a bit distracted."

Shaking her head, Mori wondered aloud, "What could have distracted him so much that he'd miss a pack of beowolves surrounding him?"

"An orange haired girl riding an ursa seemed to be the cause of his distraction, I believe." Hikari answered.

At this, the others stared at Hikari, before bursting out into laughter. "Well, that would do it for anyone!" said Mori, clutching at her stomach from laughing so much. After that, the three idly chatted, more so Mori and Aoi, as Hikari sat on her bed listening, taking care of her scythe. At this point, Shiruba came back into the room.

Looking around the room, Shiruba said "Gear up. We have combat class soon, so we should show each other our gear. Who knows what class will be like?" At this, the others started to get ready.

Hikari however, looked at Shiruba. "What?" Shiruba asked, only to have her shrug in response to him. Her eyes however, seemed to have a curious look in them, and for a second Shiruba thought she was going to ask him something. At the last second, she seemed to change her mind, and turned around to finish getting her gear together. Shiruba decided to ignore it for now, and went to strap on the finishing pieces of his combat gear.

**~Later at class**

Sitting in class, Shiruba watched as other students were chosen to fight. Bored, he wished he could get chosen already. The last fight having finished, the teacher, deputy-headmistress Goodwitch called out the next group

.

"The next battle will be a tag team battle between two set of partners." She announced. "The first pair will be Aoi Ikari and Mori Hanta. The second pair will be…" she trailed off, waiting for the randomizer program to select the other participants. "Blake Belladonna and her partner, Yang Xiao Long. Both groups please make your way to the combat floor."

Shiruba sat up in surprise. Mori was going next. "This should be fun to watch" he thought as Mori and Aoi left the stands and made their way to the floor. Likewise, the other pair headed down as well. Shiruba watched them descend. Both were girls, one with black hair, the other was the striking blonde who had winked at Shiruba the first night. The girl with the black hair wore a sword on her back, while the blonde, whom the monitors told to be Yang, wore a pair of gauntlets.

Meanwhile on the other side of the arena, Mori unsheathed her weapon Yaju, and pumped the shotgun. Aoi drew his sword from within his shield, smacking the flat of his blade against the shield to indicate he was ready.

At this point, Goodwitch spoke up. "The match will be over when one side is unable to fight. The fight begins in three….two….one…GO!"

As soon as the buzzer went off, Mori charged the other pair, Aoi right behind her. Mori slid to a stop on her knee, and began to unload her shotgun upon the other pair. Aoi kept running, and as he passed her, Mori spun Yaju around to the sword side, and followed him. Shiruba was surprised that the two were working so well together after having only known each other a few days. "Then again," he thought, "Hikari and I worked well together against those beowolves."

Blake and Yang didn't just around waiting either. While Blake sprinted off to the side, Yang charged directly at the attackers, using her gauntlets to block the shots. Reaching Aoi, she threw a punch directly at him, and there was a loud shot sounding from her gauntlets. Blocking with his shield, Shiruba was surprised to see Aoi get pushed back. It wasn't much, but it happened.

Mori used this opportunity to rush Yang, slashing at the blonde with Yaju. Countering, Yang swung at her, which Mori deflected with the armor on her left arm, while simultaneously stabbing at Yang. While this was going on, Aoi was fighting with Blake. The large knight seemed to be having trouble with the girl, unable to land a hit as she danced around him. All of a sudden, the girl was behind him, and landed a large hit on the knight, sending him into one of the walls, barely conscious.

Struggling to his feet, Aoi barely raised his shield in time to block another attack. Sensing this was his moment, Aoi dropped his sword, and punched Blake hard in the gut while she was close to him. Gasping for breath, the girl bent over, but Aoi didn't give her a moments rest. Immediately, slapping her away hard with an armored fist, sending her flying. At this point, however, he dropped to one knee, barely able to stand. Standing up, Blake saw this, and decided instead to help Yang against Mori, the two being in quite the stalemate, fighting blow for blow.

As she turned away, Blake failed to notice Aoi sheath his sword within his shield and twist the grip of the sword. The shield turned so that the point of the shield extended out from his fist, and then split down the middle, revealing a cannon underneath. Aoi grunted as he swung his arm to point at Blake, and squeezed his fist with his little strength remaining. The cannon flashed, and Blake was thrown to the wall opposite him, her aura meter dipping into the red. Seeing this, Aoi grinned and he fell, his meter also entering the red zone, both being disqualified. That left only Mori and Yang.

As the two exchanged blows, Mori seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Deflecting Yang's attack with Yaju, Mori used her free left hand to grab Yang by the shoulder, pulling Yang forward, and slammed her head into Yang's. Stunned, Yang stepped back in a daze, when Mori punched her in the face with her armored fist, sending her flying. Yang's meter, however, had yet to dip out of the green, while Mori's was well into the yellow section. Yang struggled to her feet as Mori approached. Standing before Yang, Mori prepared to make the finishing blow. As her fist was about to impact Yang's head, however, Yang's hand flashed up, and she caught Mori's fist with one hand.

Too stunned to move, Mori never saw the punch to her gut coming. Doubling over as she was struck, Mori struggled to breath. Standing up, Yang spun as she slammed her right fist into the back of Mori's head, sending Mori into the ground hard. Shiruba's breath caught as he watched, knowing Mori was unconscious before her face hit the ground. He could feel his rage welling up inside him.

"The winner is Yang Xiao Long" announced Goodwitch as the other three were taken to the infirmary, this having been a particularly rough fight. "At this time, open challenges are allowed. If there is anyone who wishes to fight, you must only say so."

Immediately, Shiruba sprang to his feet, anger in his voice. "I challenge Yang Xiao Long!" he called out in a loud voice. Turning, the blonde looked at him, surprised to see rage in the fox's face, as Hikari also looked at him in shock at the outburst.

Goodwitch turned towards Yang. "Do you accept, Mrs. Xiao Long?" she asked?

Grinning, the blonde shrugged. "Sure, why not? The fight before left me wanting a little…more" she trailed off.

Nodding, Goodwitch continued. "Then when Mr. Fokkusu reaches the combat floor, I will begin the match. Mr. Fokkusu, if you will.

Picking up Tsukiakari, the faunus walked down to the floor. When he walked out the door onto the field, there was a collective gasp of amazement. The normally brown fur of Shiruba's ears and tail had changed to silver, the pale red streaks normally hidden in the brown now extremely apparent. Looking at Yang, Shiruba didn't wait for Goodwitch to start the match, instead addressing Yang directly.

"I'm going to mop the floor with that bright yellow head of yours!" Shiruba stated as he looked Yang right in the eyes.

The room went quiet at this statement, shocked.

Immediately, the tone of the fight changed, as Yang's purple eyes changed to red, and her hair seemed to catch ablaze. The blonde pumped her fists, reloading her shot-gauntlets. Settling into a crouched position, yang prepared to fight.

Spinning Tsukiakari around into cane form, Shiruba slammed the bottom of the cane into the ground. Looking directly at Yang he spoke quietly. "Nobody hurts my sister, and gets away with it. Shifting into a crouch as well, both fighters waited for the buzzer.

**BZZZZZ!**

Immediately, both fighters launched themselves at the other, rage in their eyes, Yang's fist swinging at Shiruba as he swung Tsukiakari at her.

_**A/N~ There you have it guys, Chapter 5!**_

_**First of all, my apologies for screwing up Chapter 3 and putting 2 in for both 2 and 3, that problem has now been fixed! As always, tell me what you liked or didn't like! Also, there is currently a poll on my page as to whether or not the canon characters should play a large role in the story, like above, so tell me what you want! Chapter 6 will be out soon!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	6. CH 6: Silver Rage

~Continuing from before

**BZZZZZ!**

Immediately, both fighters launched themselves at the other, rage in their eyes, Yang's fist swinging at Shiruba as he swung Tsukiakari at her.At the last second, Shiruba vanished, reappearing directly behind Yang. Startled by the sudden lack of a target, Yang's punch swung through air as she stumbled. Behind her, Shiruba smashed Tsukiakari into the back of Yang's knee, forcing the blonde down on one knee. Twisting, she dove out of the way of the follow-up strike from Shiruba.

Yang looked at Shiruba, and knew something was off about him. This wasn't the person who had been calmly watching the fights, seemingly bored of them. Yang had been keeping an eye on the faunus, as something about him had piqued her interest. Though she was angry a moment before, she paused. The person in front of her was out for blood, and she knew it. Still, that didn't make up for the fact that he threatened her hair, which flared even brighter than before.

Watching from the stands, Hikari gripped the handrail tightly. She had never seen something like what was happening before her. Not only had Shiruba's personality seemed to have changed, but his fur had changed from brown to silver colored, something Hikari didn't think was possible. Worried, she made sure her scythe, Alkamra, was ready should she need to step in.

As he threw himself at Yang again, Shiruba didn't give her a moments rest. Swinging his cane, Shiruba continued to relentlessly attack Yang. She blocked one of his wild swings, and threw a hook into the side of Shiruba's face, sending him across the room. Yang chased after him, as he used the force of the momentum to backflip, and landed on his feet. Using Tsukiakari to deflect Yang's next attack, Shiruba kicked her in the same leg he struck before, while he changed Tsukiakari into rifle form. Yang grunted as she took the hit, and threw herself back, her aura absorbing the impact of the shots she couldn't dodge.

Phase jumping again, Shiruba appeared to the spot Yang had leapt towards while dodging his shots. Above her, he brought his fist down into Yang's head, knocking her to the ground. Rolling with the impact, Yang managed to avoid his next attack, Tsukiakari smashing into the ground where she had been just a second before.

Grabbing Shiruba's leg, Yang yanked on it hard, and he hit the ground hard on his back. Not bothering to take the time to get up, Yang simply rolled over, punching Shiruba in the gut as hard as she could. Shiruba clutched at his stomach as he gasped for air, Yang towered above him as she stood up. Pumping the action on her gauntlets, Yang was about to smash Shiruba when he threw his cane at her. Yang leaned to one side as she easily avoided the attack. However, Shiruba then phased again, and appeared behind her. He caught his cane, and brought it down on Yang's head.

At the last second, Yang spun around and knocked the cane to the side. She used her other arm, and punched Shiruba in the chest, and launched him across the room once again. Shiruba leaned forward, and grabbed the ground as he slid back, slowing himself down. Shiruba then jumped up to avoid Yang's attack, a fist thrown into the space where his head had been a moment before. Spinning as he vaulted over her, Shiruba placed his feet on her back, and used Yang as a springboard as he launched himself away from the blonde. Hikari watched the battle unfold from her seat in the stands. Yang was bloody and bruised, marks all over her body from Shiruba's attacks. The faunus had not been without injury, though, he had taken many strikes himself, blood soaking his fur in some places, but still had a furious and determined look Yang attacked with a back-handed fist, attempting to strike him before he got out of her range, but Shiruba twisted out of the way, barely avoiding the devastating strike.

As he landed, Shiruba changed Tsukiakari into rifle form, and charged Yang as he emptied the clip in her direction. Yang deflected the shots with her gauntlets as she raced towards him, determined to beat the faunus. She knocked away the strike from Shiruba's cane, noticing the significant drop in power behind it that there had been with his other strikes, and when she looked closely, she could see Shiruba's entire body trembling. Distracted, she didn't see the attack coming, and was punched in the face by Shiruba's empty fist. Shiruba then grabbed her shoulder, and drove his knee into her gut, driving all the air from Yang's lungs.

As she struggled to her feet, Yang brought her fist back, smashing it into the ground and knocking back everything around her. Shiruba jumped into the air to avoid the force of the impact, but was unable to avoid Yang's fist, as she punched him in the face, throwing Shiruba across the room and into a wall. Yang slowly approached him as Shiruba got to his feet. Both of their auras were well into the yellow zone now. Shiruba could hear someone yelling from one side of the room, cheering on Yang as the blonde approached him. He could feel his body beginning to tear apart from the force on it, but at the moment Shiruba didn't care.

Shiruba stood up once again, and charged at the brawler, raising to attack her again.

Yang raised her gauntlets, deflecting the blow with one fist while about to strike with the other. What she didn't expect was for Shiruba's body to collide with hers. Not enough to move her, Yang all of a sudden was supporting Shiruba's body weight. Pushing him back slowly, Yang looked at the faunus, confused. Shiruba raised his head slowly, looking the brawler in the eye. Obviously barely retaining his consciousness, the faunus maintained eye-contact. Shiruba then let go of Tsukiakari, the cane clattering to the ground. Shocked, the blondes face changed to horror as Shiruba coughed hard, blood going everywhere as it splashed into Yang's face. The faunus then fell backward, unconscious, his head smacking the ground as the stain of his body finally caught up with his rage, and the sound echoed in the now silent room. Yang stood there, frozen in shock at the outcome of the battle.

Hikari was the first to move after this, calling out his name as she ran to the fox's side. "Shiruba!" she called frantically, as professor Goodwitch called the school doctors, telling them to come immediately, as there was an emergency. "Shiruba, get up!" she cried out as she reached his side. Not responding, Shiruba simply lay there unmoving.

Yang at this moment finally realized what was on her face, and took a step back, barely breathing as her face went white. Silently, she watched as the medical crew ran into the room. Still, she didn't make a move, they lifted the faunus up onto a board, and carried him out of the room, Hikari running after them.

_**A/N~**_

_**Now you all know about Shiruba's strange ability. This will be better explained in the next chapter, so I'm not gonna go into it now. So, tell me what you think of Shiruba's "Silver Rage"! All comments are appreciated, so talk! Chapter 7 may take a bit of time, so be patient everyone!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	7. CH 7: We're a Team

~Later

When Shiruba woke up, he was laying on a bed in a dark room. Looking around, he decided he must be in the school infirmary, as there were rows of bunks lining the walls. He didn't see anyone else in the room besides him. Trying to sit up, he grunted in pain, and slumped back down onto the bed. It was then that Shiruba realized that his entire upper body was covered in bandages. Seeing as he wasn't in a condition to move, Shiruba decided to wait patiently for someone to come.

Shiruba waited for what felt like hours, not having a clock to look at. The door to the infirmary opened, and Shiruba was surprised to see none other than the blonde brawler herself, Yang, walk into the room on her own, and approach his bed. Not saying a word, Shiruba watched as she drew near. When she reached the bedside, he simply looked at her, still staying quiet. Looking down at him, she quietly asked "How are you feeling?" Nodding slightly, Shiruba continued to stay quiet.

To be honest, Shiruba didn't really know what she was doing here. The last thing he could remember before waking up in the infirmary was challenging her to a fight. He had somewhat of an idea, though. He knew he must have gone into what he had dubbed "Silver Rage", which would explain his lack of memory. Breaking his train of thought, Yang continued. "I'm glad you're ok. You scared me pretty badly when you started coughing up blood all over."

At this, Shiruba blinked in surprise. 'Coughing up blood?' he thought. 'Just how badly did I hurt myself?'

Noticing his surprise, Yang questioned him. "Do you….not remember it?" Shiruba slowly shook his head. "Anything at all?" Again, he shook his head. "Damn..." Yang said, "Just how hard did I bash your head?" Noticing Shiruba roll his eyes, Yang softly laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Well, glad to see you're getting better. Maybe I'll see ya around, fox-boy." With that she turned away, and left the room with a wave.

As she left, Mori came in the door. Glaring at the blonde, she shouldered her way past, and when she saw Shiruba awake, she ran over to his side. "Shiruba! You're awake! Are you feeling ok?" she asked him.

Nodding, Shiruba answered. "Yeah, and my chest doesn't hurt like it did before."

Mori smiled. "Thank God. They told me that you went crazy, and then started coughing up blood all over Yang. It happened again, didn't it?" Mori frowned as she said this last part.

"Yeah," Shiruba answered. "I don't really remember anything, but it feels the same as before. Worse, pain wise, but the same. It feels like I got hit by a train."

Mori laughed. "You may as well have been. Hikari told me you challenged Xiao Long right after I left. And apparently" she said as she glared at him, "You managed to piss her off pretty badly. I saw the video. She definitely wasn't pulling her punches. You, on the other hand, phased three times. THREE TIMES, Shiru. Are you trying to kill yourself?" she asked angrily.

"It's not like I had control over myself, sis." Shiruba calmly answered. "You know as well as I do that I don't have any control when silver."

"I know," Mori quickly answered, "but you need to keep yourself out of situations like that. One of these times, you really will get yourself killed. What am I supposed to do if you die?" At this, Shiruba's fox ears laid down on his head, his eyes low. It was true. The only family they had was each other. If one were to die, the other would likely be overcome with grief.

Before he could respond, Hikari and Aoi entered the room. Seeing Shiruba sitting up, they rushed over to him like Mori had. "What in the hell was that?" exclaimed Hikari. "You were like a totally different person! It's a shame you lost the match, though, you and Yang were going toe to toe, hardcore!"

Shaking his head, Shiruba looked at her. "Hopefully, you won't see me like that again."

"Why not? What do you mean?" questioned Aoi. "It seems to me like you're much stronger when you are like that."

"Not stronger," answered Shiruba, "I doubt there is anything out there that can just make you stronger like that. What my…ability does is it makes me not notice the damage I take. Usually, I strain my muscles to their breaking point if I'm mad enough. If I am not careful, I would probably end up destroying my body. I lack self-control, like a wild animal, not that many people won't refer to me as one now..." Shiruba finished, gently tugging at one of his ears.

As Shiruba said this, Aoi nodded in complete understanding, while Hikari looked angry. "Which," said Mori, "Is why you aren't gonna let yourself get like that anymore, right?" Shiruba nodded in agreement.

"Why the hell should people care if you have some weird ability?" asked Hikari. "It doesn't make you any more of an animal than that gorilla of a knight over there!"

"Hey!" said Aoi good-naturedly.

"Point is," continued Hikari, ignoring Aoi, "we won't think of you as some crazy animal, or any less than you are. Isn't that right?" she asked Aoi.

"Absolutely!" Aoi answered. Addressing Shiruba, Aoi continued, "We're a team. It doesn't matter what special ability you have. As a team, we stick together, and have each other's backs."

Stunned by this, Shiruba just sat there, staring at his two teammates. Slowly, he cracked a smile, much to Mori's surprise. "Yeah," Shiruba said, "We're teammates."

"Well," said Aoi as he clapped his hands on his knees and stood up, "how long do you plan on lying in bed? This team needs its leader back. After a week-long nap, you should be rested enough!"

"A week!" exclaimed Shiruba, "I've been out for a week?"

Laughing, Aoi then said, "Yeah man, you've had us worried! Mori was in here every day, checking to see how you were doing. Now that I think about it, I saw Yang come in here a couple of times too. I wonder if she came to visit you?" Aoi wondered aloud.

"Yang? Visit me? Why would she do that? If I remember right, I pissed her off pretty badly." said Shiruba. He thought back to earlier, when the blonde had indeed visited him. At the time, she didn't seem angry with him. What could she have wanted?

"I don't know, but I don't like it." said Mori. "Beating the crap out of you, and then coming and visiting you in the infirmary? Something doesn't feel right about it."

Aoi clapped his partner on the back. "I'm sure it's nothing. I bet she just wanted to make sure he was ok. Word is, she was messed up pretty badly after having Shiruba's blood sprayed in her face. Wouldn't come out of her room for almost two days, and then knocked Cardin Winchester through a wall when he pissed her off. It's one thing to put someone in the infirmary for a few days. It's a completely different thing when you think you killed someone."

Addressing Shiruba, he said "Half the school didn't seem to think you were gonna wake up." Aoi turned to the others, "Let's go talk to the nurses, and see if Shiruba can come back to the dorm now the he's awake." Nodding, the others followed him as they left the room to find the nurses.

As he lay there, Shiruba could help but wonder. 'Just what does she want with me?' he thought, his mind returning to the blonde brawler. 'I can understand wanting to make sure I was ok.' That didn't seem like that was the only reason for her visit to him. Shiruba shrugged and decided the matter could wait till later. He looked out the window while he waited for his teammates, and watched the other students mill about the school.

What he failed to notice was one student, sitting in a tree. The girl was looking up at the window, watching him as she ate her cookies. 'So that's the one...' she thought to herself. 'He must be why Yang has been acting all funny the last few days.' Having not been in class at the time of the fight, the girl hadn't seen what transpired there. She brushed off the crumbs of the cookie she had been eating as she stood up. 'Well,' she thought to herself as she dropped from the tree, 'I'll have to see just what kind of person he is.'

_**A/N~**_

_**There it is, chapter 7. I decided I'm going to involve the canon characters. They are just such a large aspect of the RWBY world! Also, I hope this explains just why Shiruba isn't OP with his "Silver Rage", as it eats away at his body. As always, I wanna know what you guys think! So leave a review, tell me what you like and don't like, and do what you do best!**_

_**Also, as pointed out to me by ThePhantomScribe, Shiruba's cane Tsukiakari more resembles a staff than a cane due to its height, though it has a hook much like a cane. This is because the weapon draws inspiration from the cane used by Sly Cooper, in the game series by the same name. Speaking of him, you guys should check out Phantom's story series "Chronicle", which is currently nearing the end of its second volume, with a third on the way after that! One of my personal all-time favorites.**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	8. CH 8: Unexpected Visitors

~A few days later

As he sat in class, Shiruba couldn't believe just how bored he was. It had been almost three days since he had been released from the infirmary, and in that time it had seemed like nothing had happened. He hadn't talked to Yang since when he was in the infirmary, not that he actually spoke at that time. Every time the two crossed paths, the brawler seemed to ignore him or change directions so as to not be near him. Not that Shiruba actually minded, he didn't care about being ignored. Mori had seemed on edge the last few days, sticking close to him most of the time, as had Hikari and Aoi, though, they didn't seem particularly tense.

Shaking off his thoughts, Shiruba returned his attention to the class for the remainder of the period. Once the bell rang signaling the end of the class, he packed up his things and headed back to his dorm. As he walked down the hall to his dorm, Shiruba got the strangest feeling he was being watched. He continued on his way, ignoring the feeling. However, the feeling persisted. When Shiruba turned his head, though, there was not a person in sight. He shrugged, figuring it must have been his imagination. He did check to make sure Tsukiakari had a full clip it, as it never hurt to be careful.

After he put his school books away, Shiruba sat on his bed and pulled out a book to read. Just as he was getting into it, the rest of his team came in the door. Shiruba turned his ears back to shield them from the sudden noise, and continued to read his book. This turned out to be impossible however, as four other people entered the room after them. Shiruba shrunk back into the corner of his bed at the entrance of these newcomers.

Two boy and two girls, Shiruba immediately recognized one of them as the crazy orange-haired chick who he saw riding an ursa back in the Emerald forest. The others were new to him. There was a calm, quiet man in the back, wearing a green shirt with a pink highlight in his hair. Catching Shiruba looking at him, the man looked back at Shiruba for a moment. He then nodded, and returned his focus back to the others. Looking towards the others, Shiruba saw a blonde-haired man and a red-haired women. The red head wore a very Spartan-like outfit, while the blonde haired man was much more casual, sporting a hoodie and a pair of jeans.

Mori then went over to the side of Shiruba's bed, grabbed his hand, and proceeded to forcefully pull him out into the room. "Come on, Shiru! Come meet our new friends!" Mori told him. Shiruba stumbled as he was pulled up, and then stood there awkwardly, looking at the newcomers.

"Now, Mori," said the guy with the highlight, "there's no need to force him to meet us."

"Shut up, Ren." came Mori's response. "This is good for him, he needs more social

interaction" With that, Mori turned to Shiruba. "These are our new friends, the members of team JNPR. Introduce yourself, brother."

Sighing, Shiruba turned to look at the others. "I'm Shiruba Fokkusu, Mori's elder brother." he said quietly, to which Mori gave him a smile.

"I'm Lie Ren." said the guy with the highlight.

"But everybody just calls him Ren!" said the ursa queen. "I'm Nora Valkyrie! Hey, aren't you the fox-guy I saw fighting those beowolves when I was riding the nora-mobile? I miss my nora-mobile." At this point, she was cut off by Ren, who took her to the side and started talking to her.

Grateful for the escape, Shiruba looked towards the other two of the group. The redhead was the first to speak. "Hello there, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, it's nice to meet you." she politely said. Shiruba nodded to her, not saying a word, but in a warm manner.

"And I'm Jaune Arc, smooth and sweet, rolls off the tongue real nice. The ladies love it." said the blonde. Shiruba stared at him, not moving or saying a word. Mori started to get nervous, and wondered if she should step in and intervene, when something happened that made her jaw drop. Shiruba was smiling. Not his normal half-assed smile, but a REAL smile. Her profound shock only increased when the fox started laughing. She didn't know what to do. She hadn't heard Shiruba laugh in a long time. 'Maybe this school really is good for him...' she thought as she smiled.

It was as if a switch had flipped inside him. One moment, Shiruba was nervous being around all these new people, but after the introduction made by Jaune, he didn't feel nervous at all. He liked the blonde youth, and decided to give him a chance. Nodding his head at the door, he asked "Wanna go to the cafeteria, Jaune? I'm hungry."

Smiling, Jaune looked at him. "I'm a bit peckish myself, so why not?" he replied. Shiruba smiled back at him, and together the two headed out of the room.

Mori almost had to sit down in shock. Looking at her, Pyrrha questioned "What is it Mori? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong" answered the fighter. "It's just I've never seen Shiruba click with someone so fast, other than me. In fact, this is probably the first time since then that something like this has happened." Turning back to the girl, Mori continued. "Well, enough about him. Who wants to play a game?" she called out. Immediately everyone in the room cheered.

Shiruba was happy. He may have made his first new friend in as long as he could remember! Sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria, the two chatted as they ate. Content with listening, Shiruba didn't say anything as Jaune went on about this girl he liked. "Her name's Weiss Schnee, and she's so beautiful, and...blah blah blah." Shiruba stopped focusing on the conversation, too busy stuffing his face with the food in front of him. Dropping the topic, Jaune watched him for a moment before asking, "Wow, you really like food, don't you?"

Shiruba nodded as he continued to eat. He stopped for a moment, "Absolutely! Food is the greatest thing on the planet." Laughing, Jaune proceeded to eat his food too, and the pair were soon finished, and left the cafeteria.

"Hey, Shiruba," said Jaune, "What kind of weapon do you have? Can you show it to me?"

Surprised, Shiruba nodded. "Not here, though." He said, "I don't like showing it off to everyone. Besides, we aren't really supposed to use our weapons in the halls."

Jaune nodded. "Alright, then, let's go out onto the grounds. I'm sure there's a place we can do that." Together, the two headed out onto the school grounds.

Upon reaching the school grounds, Shiruba took out Tsukiakari, and showed Jaune how it worked, including the different form it had. "That's so cool! It's a gun too, just Like Ruby's!"

Gesturing to the blonde, Shiruba asked "What about you? What kind of weapon do you use?"

Jaune brought out a dull looking sword, and a shield with bright orange emblem across it. "I just have this sword and shield. It's nothing special, just hand me downs from my family. My grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Does it do anything?" Shiruba asked him.

"Well," answered the blonde, "the shield folds up so I can put it in my pocket."

Shiruba thought for a moment before asking another question. "Wouldn't that mean-"

"Yes, it still weighs the same" the blonde answered as he sighed, interrupting Shiruba.

"Well, it looks cool," Shiruba tried to make him feel better. "I know! Let's have a practice match! You and me. You can show me just how well you can swing that sword."

"Uh, well, ok then." answered the knight, seeming to feel a little better.

Taking up separate sides of the field, Shiruba spun his cane, and Jaune smacked his sword on his shield, signaling that he was ready. Launching himself at the knight, Shiruba waited until the last moment, before leaping to the side. A moment later, Jaune stabbed the void where Shiruba had been, only to have his leg pulled out from underneath him. Shiruba brought his cane down onto the fallen knight, only to be blocked by the shield.

Leaping back, Shiruba waited for Jaune to regain his feet before pressing the assault. Before he could attack again, he heard a stick snap behind him. Instinctively, the faunus spun around to defend himself, only to have the collar of his cloak grabbed as he was pulled face to face against the newcomer. Staring into a pair of silver eyes, Shiruba's attention was focused onto the large scythe the person was holding. Shiruba heard a gunshot, and watched as the scythe flew down at his head, faster than he could defend against.

_**A/N~ Tell me, did anyone expect that? A bit of a slow chapter, I know, but that ending has gotta make up for it. Not much for me to say this time around, other than thanks for reading! It is worth noting though, that at the time I am writing this, "A New Path" has reached over 100 views! Thanks guys! I hope you guys are enjoying the story! As always, tell me what you think! I love hearing about it, as do my friends who are helping me with the story!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	9. CH 9: Power Struggle

_**~Immediately following CH 8**_

Mori smiled. Having just won the game that she was playing with the others of her team and team JNPR, the fighter stood up and stretched. Wandering to her bed, she was about to open up her nightstand to pull out a deck of cards for their next game when she froze. 'Was that a gunshot?' she wondered. When she glanced around the room, Mori saw that the others had heard it too. She ran to the window and looked out. Her heart almost stopped at what she saw.

Shiruba watched as the scythe flew towards him almost in slow motion. He tried to reel back, but the stranger had an iron grip on him. Shiruba closed his eyes, waiting for the strike to connect.

_**CLASH! **_Went the sound of metal on metal.

Shiruba opened his eyes to see Jaune's shield above him, as the knight struggled to keep the scythe at bay. The strangers grip loosed in shock as she looked at the knight, and Shiruba took the opening. Breaking the hold on him, Shiruba threw himself to the side and into Jaune, and knocked him out of the way of the scythe. The blonde fell to the ground as Shiruba rolled to keep his feet under him, the scythe barely missing the two. Shiruba grabbed Jaune's hood, and pulled him back, Tsukiakari trained on the attacker.

"Ruby?" exclaimed the knight in surprise. "What are you doing?" Shaking her head, the attacker said nothing, but prepared to launch herself in for another attack.

Tossing Jaune to the side, out of harm's way, Shiruba called out. "Stay out of this, Jaune. It seems like she's only after me." Keeping Tsukiakari trained on the figure, Shiruba backed away slowly. 'Damn it,' he thought, 'I can't do this right now. I still haven't completely recovered from my fight with Yang yet.' Shiruba made a decision. He turned and ran to the woods surrounding the area. 'She definitely has the advantage in an open area' he thought as he ran. 'I have to get to somewhere that will put us on even ground.'

Hearing a gust behind him, Shiruba threw himself onto the ground, narrowly avoiding the attacker's scythe, which cut through the space he had been just a moment ago. 'Shit!' cursed the faunus, 'she's fast!' He picked himself up off the ground, wincing in pain as he stood. He could feel his injured muscles starting to strain again, unable to hold up against the pressure he was exerting on them. Returning Tsukiakari to cane form, Shiruba was once again forced to lean on it for support. The scythe-wielder turned to face him, before launching herself at him again. Ready this time, Shiruba blocked the attack, knocking the scythe to the side with his cane, before throwing a punch at the face of his attacker. She ducked, before leaping back to regain her footing.

Before she could attack again, Shiruba took the initiative and charged the girl. Eyes widening, the girl barely managed to avoid the unexpected attack, before returning it with her own. The two became locked in a stalemate, seemingly unable to land a hit on the other. Slowly however, Shiruba was losing ground against the longer reach of the scythe. Shiruba threw himself at the girl and tackled her to the ground with his shoulder, but before he could pin her, the girl used her scythe as a lever to throw Shiruba off of her. Flipping in the air, he changed Tsukiakari back to rifle-form and let loose a burst at the girl, which she seemed to avoid with ease.

Cursing, Shiruba returned Tsukiakari to a cane, and caught a tree branch as he flew through the air, using the leverage to throw him higher in the tree. From here, he landed on one of the branches, out of the girls range.

_**Bang!**_

A bullet whizzed past him, having barely missed his thigh. Shocked, Shiruba threw himself to the next tree, using Tsukiakari to swing as he went. He looked over his shoulder to see the girl looking through the scope of a rifle, which looked extremely like the scythe she had been using a moment ago. 'Great,' Shiruba thought, 'that thing's a gun too.' As he avoided her shots, Shiruba could feel his muscles tightening up as they reached their limit. All of a sudden, his leg flared with pain, and Shiruba missed the next branch, falling from the tree. Struggling to get up, Shiruba watched as the girl raced towards him. Shiruba propped himself against a tree, and raised Tsukiakari towards the girl, prepared to make a final stand. Just before reaching him, the girl threw herself back, barely avoiding the buckshot as the ground where she had been running kicked up clumps of dirt.

Mori came racing through the trees, in full combat gear with Yaju in hand, and slid to a stop between the two, her weapon leveled at the girl. Hikari and Aoi followed not too soon after, Hikari running to Shiruba as Aoi took his side by Mori, also ready for combat. Having reached Shiruba, Hikari asked him, "Shiruba, are you ok? Can you move?"

Shaking his head, he answered "I'm fine." As he tried to get up however, the groan that escaped him betrayed his true condition. Sighing, he sat back down. "I'm not gonna be walking on my own for at least a day. I'm hurting, but I'm not gonna die." Turning back to the fight, Shiruba continued. "I'm worried about those two. They have the upper hand here, but that girl's no joke, she's good."

As the girl charged the pair with her scythe, Aoi placed himself in front of Mori, his sword above his raised shield. As the attacker reached him, Aoi lashed out, stabbing at the girl. The scythe wielder dodged the attack, leaping above him, only for her face to connect with Mori's shoulder as the fighter used Aoi for a springboard. Mori landed, and jumped back to where Aoi was, ready for the counter-attack.

The girl stood up slowly, and raised her scythe behind her. All of a sudden, she was gone, a whirl of rose petals where she once stood. All of a sudden, the girl was behind Mori, about to bring down the scythe on her. Before the strike could connect, Mori was encased within a shield. The scythe bounced off of the shield, which then disappeared. Mori lashed out with her sword, trying to catch the girl in the opening the shield left, but to no avail, as the girl avoided the attack and leapt back.

Grinning, Mori gave Aoi a thumbs up. "Thanks for the save, big guy!" she told the knight. Aoi nodded, having been the one to create the shield, before returning his attention to their attacker. The girl had begun racing back and forth in an attempt to confuse the pair, but it was no use, as Mori and Aoi went back to back, preventing the girl from getting behind them. That was when Mori finally made use of her semblance. Glowing softly, the armor on her arm changed form, before reforming itself as a small shield on Mori's forearm. Changing her grip on Yaju, she now wielded it as a one handed sword. Together, Mori and Aoi covered each other from the attacks of the scythe, but were unable to land any strong hits on the girl.

As the girl leaped back, team JNPR finally arrived on the scene. Taking up defensive positions around Shiruba, they didn't even bother asking what was going on. Well, most of them. "Ruby?" called out Jaune, "What the hell are you doing? Why are you attacking Shiruba?" Startled, the girl looked as if she were about to reply to him.

Before she could, however, a tree off to the side burst open loudly with the sound of a gunshot, and out of the flying shrapnel walked Yang. Looking as if she were ready to tear off some unfortunate bastard's head, she stomped over to the girl, who was trembling all of a sudden. The girl looked for an escape route, but didn't act quickly enough. Yang grabbed the hood of the cloak that the girl was wearing, and proceeded to hoist the girl into the air, hanging from her hood. "Ruby," Yang quietly said, "Would you tell me why you are attacking these people, before I get angry?"

Ruby could tell that Yang was already mad, as well as everyone else could see. Stuttering, the girl answered. "W-w-well Yang, you see, you were acting funny all week, and I didn't like it, so I decided to figure out why, and then I saw you visit that guy, and figured he must be the reason, so I wanted to see how strong he was, since the only people who you're interested in are strong people, and- "

Cutting off the flustered girl, Yang sighed before lowering the girl, and dragging her towards the group. As the two approached, Shiruba stood up with the help of Hikari. Yang stopped in front of him, still holding Ruby, until she dropped the cloaked girl. "Ruby, you are now going to explain to him why you attacked him, and then you are going to apologize."

Ruby stood up and brushed the dirt off of her cloak. She looked at Shiruba before saying, "I'm sorry for attacking you, Mr. Fox. You see, Yang hasn't been herself for the last week or so, and she wouldn't tell me why, so I decided to figure out my own. I saw her visit you in the infirmary, so I figured you had something to do with it. I knew that Yang is only interested in strong people, so I decided to see if you were strong. You weren't as strong as I thought you would be though."

"That's because he still hasn't recovered!" interjected Mori. "You could have killed him!" she exclaimed angrily, glaring at the girl.

Stopping her, Shiruba addressed Ruby. "First of all, my name is Shiruba, not 'Mr. Fox'. Second of all, you attacked me just to see how strong I was?" he asked the girl.

"Yup," came her response. "I wasn't trying to kill you at all. Sorry again for attacking you like that, Shiruba."

At this point, Yang bonked her fist on Ruby's head and looked at Shiruba. "Sorry about all the trouble my little sister caused." the blonde apologized. "I know you just got out of the infirmary and all. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Shiruba paused for a second, as he looked at the blonde, before nodding. "Now, then," continued Yang, "We have to go figure out what your punishment is going to be. Let's go, Rubes." Dragging a struggling Ruby away, Yang left, followed by team JNPR.

'Man, the days just get weirder and weirder.' Shiruba thought to himself as he watched them leave.

"Come on, you." said Hikari, "Time for another trip to the infirmary." Groaning, Shiruba and the others made their way out of the woods, Hikari and Mori supporting him as they walked.

_**A/N~**_

_**Whatcha guys think of Ruby? I think this was a pretty unique way to introduce her into the story, if I do say so myself. As always, tell me what you liked and what you didn't! Thanks for reading!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	10. CH 10: Mistakes on the Run

_**~The next day**_

Shiruba's injuries from his battle with Ruby had been much lighter than he had originally thought. He ended up staying the night in the infirmary again, much to his displeasure, but was released the following morning under a strict "no fighting" condition. Which meant having absolutely nothing to do during combat class. Bored out of his mind, as he wasn't interested in the battle taking place on the combat floor, Shiruba's eyes wandered around the room, before alighting on Ruby, across the room. Noticing Shiruba's gaze, Ruby waved to him, to which he nodded back. Looking at those she was sitting with, Shiruba noticed a girl with black hair who was wearing a bow, and another girl who had white hair, as well as Yang.

Continuing to sit around, Shiruba soon began daydreaming, not worried about being called on as he wasn't allowed to fight. Absentmindedly watching Nora threaten her current opponent with breaking his legs, Shiruba decided to try to skip what was left of class. Grabbing Tsukiakari, the faunus slipped out of the room mostly unnoticed by his classmates. The only one to notice him was the black haired girl who was sitting with Yang and Ruby. Knowing that her partner had an interest in the fleeing individual, the girl pointed him out to Yang, who immediately developed a large grin on her face. "Let's follow him and see what he's up to Blake!" the blonde said, grabbing her partner by the wrist. The pair then followed Shiruba out of the class, somehow not being noticed by the others in the room.

Leaving the room, Shiruba wandered the empty halls until he reached his dorm. Entering just long enough to grab his pair of headphones from his bag, the faunus left the room. As he walked away, he thought he heard someone, so he immediately jumped up towards the ceiling, latching onto one of the columns on the side, and held himself tight to the wall as he strained to hear anything. He couldn't hear anything, but didn't wish to stay in the area any longer than necessary, Shiruba looked around until he saw an open window. Dropping silently to the ground, he broke into a quiet run, not making a sound as he approached the window. Extending Tsukiakari in cane form, he jumped out of the window, latching onto a protruding beam with the cane, and swung himself up and to the side back towards the wall. Having secured his footing, he climbed up onto the roof and sat down on one of the decorative statues atop the building.

After watching Shiruba make his escape, Yang whistled in surprise. "Who woulda known that fox boy would jump out the window?" she wondered aloud. She turned toward Blake. "I bet he's going onto the roof, let's see if we can get up there!" Yang then turned around and ran for the stairs, her partner rolling her eyes as she followed the blonde brawler.

Back on the roof, Shiruba had been fiddling with his scroll, and finally got it to link with his headphones wirelessly. He gently placed the headphones on his head, careful not to squish his fox ears, and cranked up the volume. Seeing as he was on the roof, Shiruba had decided to practice his free-running skills when behind him, the door to the building burst open.

Believing it was a teacher, Shiruba spun around, Tsukiakari in hand, and readied himself to make a quick getaway. The eyes his found weren't a teacher's, much to his surprise, but the purple eyes belonging to Yang Xiao Long. The pair froze, staring at each other. Then, Yang slowly raised a hand, slightly waving. "Hiya, fox-boy. Whatcha doing?"

Not saying a word, Shiruba took a step back. He then slowly took off his headphones. "What are you doing here? What do you want?" he asked the girl.

Laughing, Yang responded "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? Cutting classes?"

Shiruba shrugged in response. "Makes sense, seeing as you can't fight anyway. As for why I am here, I decided to see what would make you leave class, and then leap out a window."

At this, Shiruba raised an eyebrow. "So you were the one I heard. What are you trying to do, catch me?"

"No," came Yang's reply, "but that's not such a bad idea. Tell you what, if I catch you, you have to tell me what was up with you turning silver before."

"And if I refuse to play your little game?" asked Shiruba, suspicious.

"I'll tell your sister about you skipping class." came the confident reply. Shiruba paled at the thought. If Mori found out he skipped class, he'd be in for a world of pain. Normally, he was the one to push for always attending class, so Mori wouldn't hold back if she learned about it.

"Fine," Shiruba answered, replacing the headphones on his head. "but don't expect me to make it easy for you." At this, Shiruba spun around, and broke out in a dead sprint to the end of the roof.

Racing after him, Yang called out "Hey, no fair! I never said go!" Ignoring her, Shiruba launched himself over the edge of the building, reaching for the next building's roof. As he jumped the gap however, he heard the blonde yell out "Blake, now!" and felt something wrap around his shin, pulling him back.

As he turned around in the air, Shiruba caught sight of the black haired girl he noticed earlier, a long black ribbon extending from her to his leg. "Tsch.." he muttered. 'That must be her partner. So much for playing fair.' he thought. He still had a trick up his sleeve, though. As the brawler reached out to touch his leg, Shiruba Phase-jumped out of Blake's grasp, appearing just below, his feet against the side the building. Looking up at the surprised Yang, Shiruba tipped his hood toward her, before launching himself off of the side of the building. Catching a pole with Tsukiakari, Shiruba threw himself to the other school building, and climbed up the side to the roof.

Looking back, Shiruba waved goodbye to the two girls. As he turned to leave, something caught his eye. Using her gauntlets to propel herself, Yang cleared the gap between the two buildings, stumbling as she landed. Shiruba spun on his heel, running for the other side of the roof, the Blonde right behind him. As he reached the end, Shiruba jumped over the edge, latching Tsukiakari onto a flag pole sticking out about halfway down the building, and then dropped the rest of the distance to the ground. Yang simply jumped off, smashing into the ground, and stood up, having left quite the crater. Shiruba sprinted off, racing back into one of the lesser populated buildings. No matter where he went, Yang seemed to always be there, hot on his heels. Shiruba ducked into one of the classrooms, and hid as Yang ran by the room, not even looking in. Shiruba sighed in relief, glad to have finally escaped the girl. 'Still,' he thought, 'Ya gotta admire her tenacity. I thought I had lost her a couple of times.'

Turning to examine the room he had chosen as a hiding spot, Shiruba noticed the lack of anything to hide behind should the brawler find him. What he was more interested in, though, was the lack of windows. Strange for a classroom, this room didn't have any entrances besides the door he had used to enter.

Turning to leave, Shiruba froze. Standing in the doorway was none other than Yang. "Gotcha now, fox boy." she declared.

Shiruba rolled his eyes. "I have a name you know." he responded.

"Great!" came her response. "You can tell me what it is when I catch you!"

Narrowing his eyes, Shiruba said "You'll have to be quick to catch me."

Launching herself at the faunus, Yang made what she believed to be the game finishing strike. Shiruba had different plans. Doing the opposite of what she expected, Shiruba ran straight at her. Sliding at the last moment, he managed to avoid her outstretched hand, and made a break the door. Making it out of the doorway, Shiruba headed for the roof. When he'd reached it, Shiruba again headed for the edge as he tried to get away from the door and the girl chasing him as fast as possible. In his haste, he missed the small ledge in the roof, and lost his balance when his foot went farther down than her expected.

Feeling a hand grasp his hood, he was hoisted into the air, much in the same fashion that Ruby had been by the same person. Shiruba sighed. "Alright, you got me. Now put me down."

Letting go of the faunus, Yang grinned in pleasure at having completed her goal. "Now, fox boy, you get to tell me your name, and the whole deal about turning silver."

Again Shiruba sighed, and walked over to the edge of the building, where he sat down. "My name is Shiruba." he told the blonde as she sat down next to him.

"Nice to meet you, Shiruba! My name is Yang, but I bet you know that already."

Shiruba nodded, and proceeded to explain his "Silver Rage" ability. "So, the reason you were like that was because you were pissed at me for beating up your sister?" Yang asked him. Shiruba nodded that this was correct. "Well, thanks for telling me." Yang said, grinning at Shiruba, "I'll make sure not to pick on her too much." Punching him lightly in the shoulder, Yang stood up. "Well, I guess it's time for me to head back. I'll see you around, Fox boy." she said, chuckling as she walked away.

Shiruba sat there, and watched as she left, thinking about just how much she was like Mori. After Yang left, he continued to sit there, looking out onto the school grounds. Standing up, he headed towards his own dorm.

Opening the door, Shiruba stopped mid-stride. 'Shit.' Standing in front of him, tapping her foot, was a very angry looking Mori. "Uh, hey there, Mori, how are you?"

That was the last thing Shiruba said before he was forcefully dragged into the room, cursing his bad luck.

_**A/N~**_

_**Well guys, it is currently 2 in the morning as I am finishing up this chapter. Who would have thought that Shiruba would skip out on class? Anyway, tell me what you guys like or don't like! I wanna know! As would my friends who are helping me write this story.**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	11. CH 11: Earning His Place

_**A/N~**_

_**ThePhantomScribe: Thanks for the positive review!**__** I try to keep a steady balance between the two.**_

After the skipping class incident, Shiruba swore he would never ditch on class again, not that he planned to make a habit of it in the first place. The lecture he had gotten from Mori was enough to make sure of that. It had been a few weeks since the incident, but Shiruba still got chills at the mere thought of what had transpired.

In those weeks, Shiruba had spent more time with his new friends. He still couldn't believe that he had made so many friends after having come to Beacon. Not only had he made friends with team JNPR, Jaune in particular, but also the members of team RWBY, of which Yang and Ruby were a part of. The three teams often hung out together, and usually ate lunch together. This afternoon however, Shiruba was alone as he sat down for lunch.

Quietly eating, Shiruba ignored the other students milling about the room, content with being alone. Moments like these were much more scarce for him than they used to be, so he took pleasure in being able to think on his own. As he ate, his thought were interrupted by a hand gripping his shoulder from behind.

"Hey there Fox boy! Might if I sit with ya?" said Yang from behind him. Shrugging, Shiruba nodded, and the blonde sat down next to him. "So" she continued, "Whatcha think of Beacon?"

"This place is great!" Shiruba answered enthusiastically. "Much better than anywhere I've lived before."

"You used to live out on the streets, right?" Yang asked him. After Shiruba nodded, she continued. "You've never told us anything about you past besides that. What happened when you met Hikari? What did you do before that?"

Before Shiruba could answer her, the pair heard a voice from behind them. "Well well, if it isn't our favorite little fox?" Turning around, Shiruba looked up at Cardin Winchester, not saying a word. "What's the matter? Too scared to say anything, faunus-boy?" the bully continued, grabbing at Shiruba's fox ears.

Before he could however, someone gripped his arm tightly. Cardin looked over at Yang, who had stopped him before the bully could grab Shiruba. The blonde was glaring at Cardin, who faltered in his offensive, having had previous experience with the brawler. "Yang" Shiruba quietly said. "Let him go."

Glaring at Cardin, Yang sighed and released the bully's arm. Shiruba set down his food, and then stood up, turning to face Cardin. "Look" he said, "I don't know what your problem with me is. I haven't even talked to you, let alone done anything to you."

"You don't need to have done anything. You're a faunus, you shouldn't even be here" the bully told him. "You're a stain on Beacon's record, and I'm gonna fix that." In a flash, Yang stood up, an angry gleam in her eyes, but before she could do anything, Shiruba held arm in front of her.

Still looking at Cardin, Shiruba said "Wait Yang, this has nothing to do with you." Ignoring her reaction, he continued. "Whatever your problem is, we can settle it in the normal way. A duel in the combat room" Shiruba said as he glared at the bully.

"Fine, we can do it your way" the bully responded, "But I am so going to wipe the floor with that tail of yours." With that, Cardin walked away, leaving the two standing there.

Yang turned towards Shiruba. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed at him, frustrated. "What do you mean, it has nothing to do with me?" Taken aback, Shiruba didn't respond as he looked at her. Yang continued. "Aren't we friends? Friends look out for each other!" Still looking at her, Shiruba didn't know what to say. "Well?" Yang asked as she glared at him.

Shiruba thought for a moment. Sighing in frustration, Yang turned away to leave when Shiruba spoke. "I'm sorry." Yang froze when she heard him, but didn't turn to look at him. Shiruba continued. "I'm not used to having friends, or for people to want to stand up for me." Yang turned to look at him as Shiruba continued. "Besides Mori, I didn't have any friends before I came here to Beacon, and before I met her, I…didn't really have anyone around me."

Yang sighed, and looked at Shiruba. Shiruba didn't say anything as the two looked at each other. Finally, Yang made the first move. She walked up to Shiruba, and gently punched him in the shoulder, before turning to walk away. As she reached the door, she paused and glanced over her shoulder at Shiruba with one eye, a slight smile on her face. "You coming, Fox boy? You do have a fight after all." With that, she walked out of the room, leaving Shiruba standing there. He shook his head, smiling slightly as he jogged out of the room to catch up.

_**~In the combat room**_

As he entered the room, Shiruba saw Cardin waiting for him, a large black mace in his hand. Shiruba took his spot at the other end of the combat area. "You ready to get your ass kicked?" called out Cardin. Shiruba ignored him, and continued his preparations, making sure Tsukiakari's clip was full. Once both combatants were ready, they shifted into a combat pose.

"Hey, wait a sec you two!" called out Yang. Shiruba looked over at the blonde brawler. "The others want to see this!" As she said this, the other members of teams RWBY, JNPR, and his own team MASH entered the room, and took up seats in the stands behind him. They promptly began shouting encouragements to him.

"Go get'em!" yelled Ruby.

"You got this" cheered Jaune.

"Break his legs!" came Nora's directions.

Needless to say, his own team mates' cheers were much more vulgar.

"Give the bastard a taste of his own medicine!" called out Mori.

"Let him have one from me!" Hikari told Shiruba.

"Don't let the fucker get a hold of you! You're much faster than him!" commanded Aoi.

Visibly frustrated, Cardin turned towards them. "Shut up! Are you gonna let us fight, or not?" he yelled at them, which only seemed to increase the intensity of their shouting. He turned and looked at Shiruba as he talked "Fine, have it your way." Not bothering to wait for the match to start, Cardin leapt at Shiruba, attacking before the bell.

Shiruba dropped to one knee, Tsukiakari aimed at Cardin, and let off a short burst of shorts. The mace-wielder simply charged through the storm of bullets, letting his aura deflect the shots away from his body as he threw an overhand strike at Shiruba. Shiruba leapt to the side, feeling his aura drop as he narrowly avoided the hit. As he did so, Shiruba fired the rest of the round in his clip at Cardin, most of which were blocked by the mace.

Out of ammunition in his current clip, Shiruba swapped Tsukiakari into cane form. 'If that mace hits me, it'll do some serious damage' Shiruba thought to himself. 'I have to get up close, so he can't make use of his longer range' the faunus thought as he broke into a run towards Cardin. Using both ends of his cane, Shiruba attacked Cardin, preventing the larger fighter from making use of his weapon.

Losing ground, Cardin struck out with his left arm, smashing it into Shiruba's chest, his aura meter well into the yellow section now. The impact threw Shiruba off of his feet and onto his back. Not letting up, Cardin brought down an overhand strike once again, aiming to finish the fight in a single blow. There was a collective gasp, as those watching knew that such a blow could potentially cause permanent damage to Shiruba. Before the blow landed, Shiruba phase-jumped, avoiding the attack as he appeared above Cardin. Using Cardin's head as a stepping stone, Shiruba jumped behind him, flipping to land on his feet facing Cardin. Bring the head of Tsukiakari into the back of Cardin's knee, Shiruba heard an audible crack as the cane landed.

Cardin immediately dropped to one knee, his other leg no longer able to support his weight. As he tried to stand, he felt something on his neck. He looked down, and his eyes bugged out in shock. Behind him, Shiruba stood with Tsukiakari extended. The hook of the cane was wrapped around Cardin's throat. Quietly, Shiruba said "It's over."

"Like hell it is" responded Cardin, about to try and stand up.

Using Tsukiakari to force him back down, Shiruba continued. "Try to get up, and you'll be in the infirmary for a week" the faunus threatened. "You're lucky I won't do worse. I've seen all the other things you've done, to both faunus and humans."

Shaking in rage, Cardin spat the words out of his mouth. "Fine. I yield." Nodding, Shiruba unhooked Tsukiakari from Cardin, and turned to walk away. As he did, Cardin spun around, and threw his mace at him. Shiruba spun around, leaping back, but knew he wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. As he did so, Shiruba felt the presence of someone behind him. As he collided with the person, he saw a yellow gauntlet pass by his face, and smash into the approaching mace, knocking it away as if it were a toy.

As he felt the heat behind him, Shiruba instantly knew who it was. Behind him, her hair ablaze, stood Yang. After knocking away the mace, Yang glanced at Shiruba to make sure he was alright, before walking over to Cardin, murder in her eyes. Yang picked up the offending fighter, and looked at him. Clearly terrified, Cardin was shaking in her grasp. After a moment, Yang shrugged as her grasp loosened slightly. Looking relieved, Cardin's expression immediately changed as Yang's grip tightened again, and the blonde turned, throwing the much larger fighter. When he hit the wall, Cardin didn't even slow down, but went through the wall.

Yang smacked her hands together, dusting them off. When she turned around, everyone else in the room was staring at her with big eyes. Well, with the exception of Ruby, who had seen her sister do this kind of thing before. "What?" asked Yang as she looked back at the others. The room was silent for a moment, and then was filled with laughter, as Jaune and Nora burst out. The other, unable to contain themselves, soon joined in as Yang stood there, confused but happy. She walked over to Shiruba. "Come on, let's go have a victory party!" she said as she grabbed his hand, and pulled Shiruba over to the others in the group.

_**A/N~ There ya go guys, the Cardin chapter! Not much to talk about here today, other than hitting over 200 views! Leave reviews guys! I'll talk back, I promise! I don't bite! So tell me what you think!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	12. CH 12: Watch What You Say

As he stood in front of the large desk, Shiruba wondered why he had been called to the headmaster's office of all places. A little while ago, he had gotten a message on his scroll that he was to meet with the headmaster. He furiously racked his brains, trying to think of something he could have done that would land him in hot enough water for something like this to happen. As he did so, Ozpin spun his chair around to look at the faunus.

Taking one look at him, Ozpin immediately knew what was going through Shiruba's head. "Don't worry," he calmly said, "you aren't in trouble or here to be punished."

Shiruba blinked. "Y-yes sir."

"And please, do away with the formalities. As I was saying, you and your team are not in any trouble. I summoned you here today to give your team a mission."

"A mission?" Shiruba asked.

"Yes. You see, there have been numerous attacks recently, all of which have resulted in the theft of Dust. Primary amongst the victims would be the Schnee Dust Company. As such, the company have asked us to guard one of their transport trains as it makes its way through the area. I have selected your team for this mission."

Shiruba nodded, still a bit surprised. "Good." continued Ozpin. "I'll have the mission detail sent to your scroll. For now, get your team together and prepped, you'll be leaving tonight." With that, Ozpin dismissed Shiruba, and turned back to the window.

_**~En route to the meeting point**_

Shiruba checked his scroll one last time before addressing the others. "Alright," he started, "according to the headmaster, a few Schnee Dust transports have been hijacked in this area. Most of the evidence suggests the terrorist group, the White Fang, are involved in the robberies, though there have been a couple of accounts saying that there have been Grimm on site."

At this, surprised murmurs ran through the group. "Grimm?" asked Aoi. "What would they be doing there?"

"I have no clue," answered Shiruba, "and neither does anyone else. That's why we're here. There will be a security force onboard to deal with any terrorists. Our job is to support them, and to confirm whether or not there is any truth to these claims." At this, Aoi nodded, sitting back down to continue doing maintenance on his weapons. "For fear of letting the White Fang onboard while at a station, we will be boarding the train as it is en-route to its destination."

"Wait," interrupted Hikari, "so, that means, what? We're jumping out of the bulkhead directly onto the train?"

"Exactly." said Shiruba. "The crew will have cleared a suitable spot on the deck for us, but the space isn't large enough to get the bulkhead down there. Therefore, as Hikari said, we will be jumping in hot."

Mori whistled. "Been a while since we've done something like that, eh, Shiruba?"

"That it has." responded the faunus. "That said, I want everyone to be careful. It's unlikely that the transport will be attacked, but no careless mistakes, I don't want anyone getting hurt. Got it?"

Answering him, the three went their separate ways to do a final check on their gear. As they did, the pilot of the bulkhead came over the intercom. "Five minutes till we are at the rendezvous everybody."

_**~4 minutes later**_

"Alright, guys, here we go!" called out Shiruba. "This is our first mission, so let's do it well!" As he said this, the rear door of the bulkhead opened up to reveal the transport train below, moving at the same pace as the bulkhead. "Ok, Aoi first. Lead the way big guy!" Shiruba told the large knight. Nodding, Aoi walked forward to the edge, and jumped down to the deck of the train, landing on his feet while using one hand on the ground for support. Following her partner, Mori took a step back before leaping out of the bulkhead. As she hit the ground, she rolled into a crouched position, Yaju in hand.

Shiruba then looked to Hikari, who rolled her eyes. When she jumped out, she twisted around to face the bulkhead, and using the grappling hook in her weapon, lowered herself slowly to the deck of the train car as she stood on her scythe. Shiruba leapt out of the bulkhead after her, tumbling into a crouched position much like how Mori had. When he stood up, Shiruba turned and waved off the bulkhead to let the pilot know everyone was onboard the train. As the bulkhead flew off, Shiruba turned to see a man approaching the group.

"Greetings, Hunters and Huntresses, I am Jack, the head of the security force for this transport." introduced the man. Nodding to him, Shiruba and the others introduced themselves in turn. "It's great to have you all. I'm sure you were told about the other hijackings, so I won't bother you with the details. Seeing as how you guys seem to work better on your own, I've decided to let you have free rein on your actions...within reason, of course." Shiruba nodded in gratitude. "I'll have men stationed in every car, so, should those terrorists attack, we should be fine."

Having said this, the guard left the group of hunters on their own. "Ok," said Shiruba, turning to the others, "We should split up in pairs. Aoi and Mori can take the back half of the train, and Hikari and I the front half." Shiruba looked to the others. Once they nodded their agreement, he continued. "Alright. Keep in touch with each other." the group split up into their designated pairs, and went their separate ways.

_**~Undesignated amount of time later**_

Shiruba spoke to Mori, on the other side of the scroll conversation. "We're nearing the edge of the forest. It shouldn't be long before the bulkhead gets here to pick us up. How are things looking on you end?"

"All fine and dandy. Not a whiff of Grimm or the White Fang." came Mori's response.

"That's a relief. I'm glad nothing happened," said Shiruba. "for a first mission, this went pretty smoothly. You and Aoi should head back to the center car, that's where the bulkhead will pick us up. Hikari and I will head there now too." Ending the conversation, Shiruba looked to Hikari as he re-placed Tsukiakari onto his back. "Well, let's not keep them waiting" he said.

Hikari rolled her eyes. "As if there's anything else to do on this train. What was the point of sending us out here if nothing was gonna happen?" Shiruba didn't say anything to this. Hikari waited a moment, and then sighed, "Alright, then, let's go. The sooner we do, the sooner we get to go home."

Once they reached the center train car, having received a call from the bulkhead, Shiruba saw Mori and Aoi had beaten them there. As he and Hikari approached the two, he saw Mori laugh and good naturedly punch the large knight in the shoulder, before hopping of the box she was sitting on to meet Shiruba in the center. "What's up, big bro?" she asked him.

"All's well." Shiruba responded. Spotting the bulkhead approaching in the distance, he pointed it out. "There's our ride. Everyone got your gear?" The others called out their affirmative, and Shiruba nodded to one of the security guards. The guard pulled out a flare gun, and shot a flare into the sky to give the bulkhead their position, as they were still in the forest. Once the bulkhead was above them, the rear door opened, and one of the crewmen threw out a rope ladder down to the awaiting hunters.

As he reached for the ladder, the train suddenly shook violently, and black smoke poured out over the train from the front. Immediately, sirens started going off all over the train, and guards were racing back and forth across the train. Trying to figure out what was going on, Shiruba grabbed one of them by the arm. "What the hell just happened?" he demanded.

"One of the front engines just exploded!" the guard yelled back at him, jerking his arm away. "You need to either get off now, or wave off your transport! It'll be in the way if we get into a firefight!" With this, the guard turned and ran off.

Shiruba made a snap decision. "We're staying." he said as he looked to the others. With grim looks on their faces, they nodded. Shiruba looked up to the bulkhead, and waved off the pilot. As the bulkhead lifted away, something flashed in the corner of Shiruba's eye, catching his attention. Turning, he watched speechless as a rocket raced across the sky, smashing into the side of the bulkhead, spiraling it out of control. The bulkhead spun off, crashing somewhere in the forest.

The train shook with another explosion, and Shiruba and his friends watched in shock as three unfamiliar bulkheads appeared above the train, all bearing a strange symbol. One, larger than the others, opened up the rear door. What appeared in the opening only left them ever more speechless. Mori was the first to say anything.

"Is that….Is that an ursa?" she cried out.

'Shit,' Shiruba though. "Get down!" he screamed at the others as not one, but three ursa fell out of the bulkhead, landing on the train car.

_**A/N~**_

_**Here we go guys! Tell me Whatcha think of the latest chapter!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	13. CH 13: The First Mission

The group leapt away from the center of the car as the three ursa slammed down onto the train. As he did, Shiruba glanced up at the other two bulkheads. Separating, one went further up the train, and the other went further down. Both bulkheads opened up, revealing numerous beowolves within them, which immediately began tumbling down to land all over the train. Shiruba shook his head, clearing his thoughts. 'We've gotta deal with these ursa before anything else.' he thought as he readied Tsukiakari.

The ursa in question roared in rage, and split up, attacking Shiruba's group and guards alike. Just as one of the guards was about to be torn in half by an ursa, a shield appeared around him. Beside Shiruba, Aoi grunted in concentration as he kept the shield up. As the ursa tried to attack the guard again, Mori jumped onto its back, placed the barrel of Yaju against the back of the ursa's skull, and blew out the Grimm's head.

As this happened, Hikari launched herself into the air, and used her grappling hook to pull herself towards one of the remaining ursa. Shiruba sprinted after her, changing Tsukiakari into rifle form as he ran. Hikari skidded across the ground, and sliced off part of the first ursa's front legs. Ignoring the beast, she continued on, headed straight for the third ursa. As he followed her, Shiruba leapt above the fallen ursa, placing a burst of rounds into the Grimm's skull as he continued on.

Before Hikari could reach the third beast, it was thrown into the air by an explosion. Shiruba turned to see the smoking barrel of Aoi rocket launcher. Shiruba nodded to him, and watched as Hikari issued the killing blow to the creature. Shiruba marveled at how fast the team took out the Grimm. 'A few months ago, we couldn't have done this as fast as we did.' he thought to himself. Shiruba immediately took control of the situation. "You and Mori take the back half of the train!" he told the large knight, "See if you can take out that bulkhead while you're at it!"

The knight nodded and grinned, as Mori called out "Leave it to us! You and Hikari take care of the front, we'll cover the rear!" The two ran off in the indicated direction, cutting down beowolves as they went.

Shiruba looked to Hikari. "Let's get going," he said with a smile, "can't let them have all the fun." Hikari grinned back at him, and together the two faunus ran off to the front of the train.

_**~In the largest bulkhead**_

"Uhh, boss..?" said one man.

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" the other man said, as he continued to try and light his cigar. "Damn lighter, never works when you need it to."

"We've got a problem," the first man said. "It seems that there are some hunters aboard the Schnee transport."

The boss stood up, fixing the placement of his bowler hat, and looked at the man. "Well? Then get out there! Take the others with you too." The first man ran out of the room, and the boss cursed. "Hunters? Why the hell are there hunters aboard the train? Oh well, guess you can't leave a Grimm to do a man's job." With that, the boss turned back to his console, still trying to light his cigar.

_**~Onboard the Schnee transport**_

'Damn it,' Shiruba thought to himself, 'there are just too many!' He paired an attack from a beowolf, and leapt back to keep himself from being surrounded in the tight train compartment. Hikari had left him, and gone over the train rather than through it. Shifting Tsukiakari into rifle form once again, Shiruba shot the beowolf that had just attacked him in the chest, before leaping forward to avoid another attack. As he rolled, Tsukiakari returned to cane form as Shiruba blocked a downward slash from yet another beowolf.

'How many of these things are there?' he wondered as he fought. 'There can't be that many more.' Shiruba swung his cane, smashing the fingers of a beowolf's paw, and ducked to avoid an attack aimed at his head. Changing his weapon's form again, he spun in place, placing a bullet in the skulls of both the beowolves left in the room. Ejecting the empty mag, he slapped a new one into his weapon when he heard to door slide open.

Shiruba looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Hikari, it's about time you showed-". He was cut off by the sound of gunshots. Shiruba phase-jumped as sparks kicked up where he had been standing a moment before, holes now in the wall behind him. Shiruba stared in shock from where he was now crouching, as he saw numerous humanoid figures dropping onto the deck. In the doorway he was looking through, another of the figures stood with a smoking rifle in his hands, a Grimm mask covering his face.

Not wasting any time, Shiruba threw himself at the attacker. 'So it was the White Fang!' he thought to himself as he tripped the man, and brought Tsukiakari down on him. Shiruba heard shouting, and saw that Hikari had already engaged the new attackers. Just as he was about to go help her, Shiruba felt a boot hit his gut as a rather large faunus kicked him back into the car. Shiruba gasped for breath as he hit the opposite wall.

"Guess hunters aren't all what they are cracked up to be" he heard his attack say, and he watched as the man pulled out a large sledge hammer, holding the large weapon in one hand. Shiruba spun Tsukiakari in his hand as he stood up, and prepared himself to fight. With a guttural roar, the man charged forward, swinging his weapon in an attempt to smash Shiruba's head in from the side.

Rather than duck, like the man expected, Shiruba jumped up, and using the wall behind himself, threw himself up over the man. The man's hammer smacked into the wall, and the impact unbalanced the large man. Shiruba immediately tackled the large man into the wall. The man grunted in surprise, but reacted faster than Shiruba expected, spinning both of them around and slammed Shiruba into the wall.

Dazed from the impact, Shiruba was unable to avoid the man's hand, which grabbed him around the throat and lifted him up off the ground. Shiruba, unable to breath, dropped Tsukiakari and tried to pry apart the man's hand, but to no avail. The man laughed, and threw Shiruba into a wall, before kicking him in the gut. Shiruba collapsed to the floor in pain.

Shiruba knew he was outgunned here. He just didn't know how he was gonna get out and away from the man. Then he heard someone call out "Hey asshole!", and watched in shock as something collided with the side of his attacker's head. The man was knocked off to the side, and Shiruba saw Mori standing there where he had been. She reached out a hand to help him up. "What are you doing Shiru?" she asked as she helped him stand and handed Tsukiakari to him. "You're getting your butt handed to you."

"Oh shut up" came Shiruba's reply, "You gonna help me take down this sucker, or what?" he asked, glancing at her. Mori rolled her eyes.

"Of course I'm gonna help you, why do you think I'm here?" she answered as she laughed. Mori then grew serious. "Now, let's get this jerk!"

Together, the brother and sister launched themselves at the man, who had gotten up and retrieved his sledgehammer. The man swung at them, but both dodged, Mori ducking under and Shiruba leaping above the strike. Mori leveled her shotgun at the man, putting a round into his chest from point blank range. As the man fell, Shiruba hooked Tsukiakari onto him, and threw the attacker into a pile of crates off to the side, one of which fell on the man's head and knocked him unconscious.

The two stood up, and headed outside, having defeated the man. Waiting to greet them were both Aoi and Hikari, looking as if they too had trouble with their opponents. Shiruba looked around. Much of the train was in shambles, but they were still moving, which was a good thing. He didn't see any more attackers, but he did see the guard from before, Jack, walking up to them.

"Thanks for the help you gave my guys" he said, thanking Shiruba and the others. "We would have been dead if you weren't here. I got a call from Beacon, another bulkhead is on the way to pick you guys up."

Shiruba nodded his thanks. 'Well' he thought, "So much for this being an easy mission. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.' With that, the team sat down for some well-deserved rest while they waited for the bulkhead to arrive.

_**~In the largest bulkhead**_

The screen flickered in Roman's face as he looked at the face of his boss. "The mission was a failure. A team of hunters showed up." He bit down on his cigar in anger.

"No matter" came the voice, garbled through a voice masker, "We have more than enough Dust to continue with the operation for the time being. Head back to base, I have a new mission for you"

Roman nodded as the screen went blank, and stood there for a moment. He then sighed and turned to the pilot of the bulkhead. "Head for the base, let's see what the boss wants now."

_**A/N~ There we go guys, the first meeting with the White Fang! I hope ya liked this chapter. As of now we have 230+ views, cool beans guys, thanks! Leave a review if ya would, and a follow if you enjoy what you see!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	14. CH 14: Unexpected Revelations

_**A/N~ Time to answer reviews! Only one this time though**_

_**Guest: I'm glad you're liking the story! Don't worry, time will tell ;) some of what you were talking about has already been in the works. Also thanks for the compliment on the fight scenes! Being able to picture the scene as I write it lets me put it some more detail to them.**_

_**~At Beacon**_

Shiruba left Ozpin's office, having been debriefed on the team's recent mission. He met up with the others outside the office. Together, they started to walk to their dorm.

"How did it go?" asked Hikari.

"Just fine," Shiruba answered. "He seems curious about the Grimm being used as weapons, just like we all are. Beyond that, I have no idea what is going on through the headmaster's mind right now."

"I wonder how the White Fang even managed to get ahold of that many Grimm..." Hikari wondered aloud.

Aoi shrugged. "No use worrying about it now, there's nothing we can do about it. I say we just kick back for a little while."

Shiruba shook his head. "Nope, we're back at school. You know what that means, right?"

Mori groaned. "Back to classes for us."

Shiruba waited a moment, before grinning. "Classes can wait for tomorrow. For now, let's get some food!" The others perked up, cheering. This was when teams RWBY and JNPR arrived.

"Hey, Shiruba!" called out Juane, "Did you guys just get back from your mission?"

"Yeah," came the faunus's response. "We were just about to head to the cafeteria to get some food. You guys want to come with us?"

The other teams immediately jumped on the offer. "Wait!" said Ruby. Everyone paused to look at the girl. "Instead of going to the boring old cafeteria, let's have a picnic!" Everyone seemed to like this idea. "Great!" said Ruby, "I'll go make some cookies real quick!" She immediately rushed off.

"I know!" said Nora, looking to Ren, "Let's make some pancakes!" The rest of the group perked up. Ren's pancakes were a legend in the dorms of Beacon, and he rarely made them. "Please, Ren!" the pink girl begged.

Ren smiled. "Sure, why not?" Nora jumped up, cheering, and together the two went off to make the pancakes.

Shiruba looked at the others. "I hope you aren't expecting me to make anything. I am absolutely dreadful at cooking. Mori's just as bad too."

"Hey!" said Mori, playfully punching Shiruba in the shoulder.

"Well, I can make some sandwiches, I guess." said Juane. Pyrrha jumped at the chance, volunteering to help him. Yang decided to make some steak, Weiss ran off to help Ruby, and Blake volunteered to make a salad. The group refused to let Aoi or Hikari help, saying that the team that just returned from a mission shouldn't have to do any work for the day. The group then split off to do their various assigned tasks, while team MASH headed back to their dorm to clean up before they headed down to the grounds.

_**~After lunch**_

Shiruba leaned back, leaning against a tree after having eaten lunch. He watched as his team, no, his _friends_, played. Mori jumped onto Aoi's shoulders, riding him like a horse, while Nora tried to get Ren to do the same, only with Ren on her shoulders. He didn't seem to be very enthusiastic with idea, though. Hikari was trying to start up a game of Frisbee, and Ruby was running around being her hyper self. Shiruba smiled as he watched the others having fun. "Not gonna go join them?" Shiruba heard from the side. He looked over to see Blake watching him, a book in her hand.

"Nope," he responded. "I'm happy just sitting here watching. My ribs are still bruised from the pounding I took from that White Fang thug, so I'd better sit this one out." At the mention of the White Fang, Shiruba saw Blake's eyes narrow ever so slightly.

"I didn't know you guys ran into the White Fang." she said quietly.

"Yep," Shiruba answered. "a bunch of Schnee Dust transports had been hijacked, so the company asked Ozpin to have a team guard them. Gotta say, though, none of us were expecting them to be using Grimm."

"Using Grimm? What do you mean?" Blake asked in surprise.

"Using them as weapons." he answered, a little surprised at how quickly Blake asked her last question. "They dropped some ursa and a butt-ton of beowolves on us. Frankly, I'm glad no one was seriously injured. Just goes to show how much we've progressed since attending Beacon, I'd say."

"Mind if I take a seat?" Blake asked him. "I'm not one much for running around."

"Be my guest," Shiruba said. "I don't have anything against it."

The girl sat down, and began to read her book. Before she could get into it, though, Yang ran over. "Hey, what are you two doing over here? Making out?" she joked. Shiruba rolled his eyes, while Blake glared at the blonde. "Come on, I was just joking." Yang said, "Besides, I know you like your books too much to be interested in anyone." At this, Blake blushed red. Shiruba, now curious, tried to lean over to see the title of the book she was reading, but Blake quickly hid the book in question. Yang grabbed the two by the arms, dragging them both up. "Up, up! Let's go have some fun!" she exclaimed as she dragged the two over to the group.

The others had finally started up their game of Frisbee, and Yang called their attention to have Shiruba and Blake join in on the game. Shiruba shrugged and grinned. 'I should be able to handle at least this' he thought to himself. Everyone ran around, enjoying playing the game together. Even Blake did once Yang got her into the game. Then something unforeseen happened.

It all happened because Shiruba wasn't looking where he was going as he ran, trying to catch the Frisbee. One moment, he was fine, the next he had collided with someone, the two falling down in a tangle mess. That person was no other than Blake, who had been looking the other way as she tried to talk to Yang about something. Everyone was laughing as Hikari and Yang jogged over to help separate the two and get them back on their feet. As she helped Shiruba up, Hikari looked at the black ribbon in her hand.

"Oh, Blake, your ribbon came undone." she said as she turned, and then froze. Shiruba looked at her for a moment, before following her gaze to where Blake was standing. He blinked in surprise. "You're a faunus too?" Hikari asked in surprise. At the word, Blake froze, and then saw the ribbon in Hikari's hand, before reaching her own hand up to her head, where a pair of black cat ears were in place of a ribbon.

"Welp," said Yang, "I guess the cat's out of the bag now." This earned a collective groan from the group as a whole. "What! That was comedy gold!"

"I don't get it," said Shiruba as he looked to Blake, "Why hide what you are?"

"I'm sure you've noticed, but some people don't look too kindly upon our kind." Blake answered, "Sometimes it's easier to just not deal with it." At this, Shiruba and Hikari nodded in understanding. Aoi, however, was looking at Blake with big eyes. "Uhh, Aoi, what do you want?" she asked him. In an unusually quiet voice, he asked her a question.

"Can I touch them?"

Blake blinked in surprise. "Touch…my ears?" she asked. Aoi nodded enthusiastically. "Why would you want to do that? Better yet, why not touch one of your team mate's ears?" Blake asked him.

"I've always wanted to touch a faunus's ears! Shiruba would never let me, and Hikari threatened to break my hand if I tried." the knight said in a pleading voice. Everyone stared at the knight in surprise. There was silence for a moment. Which was promptly broken by the sound of Yang's laughter. Shiruba and Mori began giggling, and soon the entire group was in hysterics, even the usually silent Ren was on the ground clutching his sides.

"No," Blake answered Aoi question, "Absolutely not. You're not creeped out by the ears at all?" she asked Aoi.

"Not at all!" he exclaimed.

Blake seemed a bit taken by this. She looked at him closely. "I don't think I have EVER met a human quite like you" she said seriously. This only seemed to add to the intensity of those rolling around on the ground as they laughed. This is how the group spent the next twenty minutes, with Aoi trying to convince Blake to let him pet her ears the entire time. Yang, needless to say, would never let Blake forget the day.

_**A/N~ Well guys, how do you like Aoi? A bit different than you originally thought, I bet! Leave a review and tell me what you think! I'd love to know!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	15. CH 15: Bonding

_**~In team MASH's dorm**_

Shiruba was sitting in the windowsill with Tsukiakari propped up on his knee as he watched outside. He liked to sit alone and simply watch the happenings of the world, such as the birds flying around. He turned as the door opened, and Aoi walked into the room. Aoi waved to Shiruba, who smiled back at him. "Hey, Shiruba, what's up?" Aoi asked him.

"Just hanging out, enjoying the quiet." Shiruba answered as Aoi walked over to his bunk. Aoi sat down, and started to do maintenance on his weapons, starting with sharpening his sword. "You've never told me, but what is your weapon's name?" Shiruba asked him.

Aoi grinned, as he loved his weapon, and enjoyed talking about it. "The pair together are called "Moretsuna hogo-sha", which means "Furious Guardian". " Aoi then inserted his sword into the top of his shield, and twisted the grip. The sword shifted, and the shield then spun around and split down the middle to reveal the barrel of his bazooka.

"The barrel looks much smaller than I would have initially thought." Shiruba commented.

"Yeah," responded Aoi, "I wanted to make it bigger, but the barrel wouldn't fit if it were. I offset the small barrel by using a highly concentrated explosive dust round, which gives it the power needed to take down the larger guys. I can load in different kinds of rounds for whatever job I need to, but for the most part I use the high explosive ones."

"Hmm," said Shiruba. "Since you use Dust for ammunition, doesn't that mean that you could use different elemental kinds for different results?" he asked Aoi.

"Yeah, I could," Aoi responded. "I don't like to use those as much, as they don't pack as much of a punch, I feel. Also, it's fun to watch things explode!" Shiruba laughed at this statement.

Shiruba laughed. "Be that as it may," he agreed, "It doesn't seem to be very efficient. Oh, I know, let's go to the forge, and see if you can trick out your weapon at all."

Aoi looked unsure. "I dunno, I kinda like it how it is."

"Come on," Shiruba said, "It can't hurt to at least look." Aoi reluctantly agreed, and together the two headed off to the Forge, where the students did maintenance on their weapons, and armor for those who wore it. Along the way, the pair ran into Ruby and Weiss.

"Hey, there you two! What are you guys up to?" asked Ruby cheerfully.

"We're just headed up to the Forge," answered Shiruba, "we're gonna see if there is any way we can improve Aoi's weapon." Ruby immediately pelted the pair with questions.

"Oh, what kind of weapon? Can I come? I love working on weapons! You'll let me come, right? Pleaaaase!" the girl begged.

Shiruba looked at Aoi, who shrugged, before looking back at Ruby. "Sure, I don't see why not."

"Yay!" exclaimed Ruby, and followed Shiruba and Aoi, dragging Weiss along with her.

_**~At the Forge**_

"Ok," said Ruby, "let's see what we're working with here." Aoi set his weapon, currently in bazooka mode, down on the table. Ruby sat down, and took a look at the weapon. After a moment, she looked at Aoi in excitement. "Do you know who made this?" Aoi nodded at her. "How much did you pay for this? This looks like it was made by Amoi Hanma, one of the most famous blacksmith's in the world!"

Aoi blinked in surprise. "I didn't pay for it, I made it. It would make sense that it would look like the old man's style, since he is the one who taught me how to make weapons and armor."

Ruby started bouncing she was so excited. "You knew Amoi Hanma? Like, THE Amoi Hanma?"

"Yeah, he took me in when I was sixteen." answered Aoi. He raised a hand to stop further questions. "Let's stick to the task at hand, please."

Ruby sat down again, and returned to inspecting the weapon. "Well, from what I can tell, the weapon is very well made." Aoi beamed at the praise. "I'm not sure there is much in the way of improvement that even I can do to this baby."

Weiss interjected. "Does it use Dust?" Aoi explained the Dust rounds he used in it. "Well, Dust rounds are one thing," said Weiss, "but have you ever thought of imbuing the weapon itself with Dust?"

Shiruba and Aoi looked at each other, before looking back to the girl. "You can do that?" Aoi asked her.

Weiss cracked a rare smile at this. "Why, yes, I can. Being the heir to the Schnee Dust Company, I have spent most of my life around the minerals, and have a very good grasp of their applications."

Aoi looked to her. "Could you please help me do something like that to Moretsuna hogo-sha?" he asked her.

Weiss frowned slightly at this. "If it were just the Dust, I could handle it. Unfortunately, I'm not as good at handling the metal side of things."

"Oh," exclaimed Ruby, "I can help with that part! Between Aoi and me, I'm sure we can manage that while you do your thing with the Dust, Weiss!"

Weiss thought for a moment. "That…just might work," she finally said. "let's give it a try. First things first, though. What kind of Dust would you want to imbue your weapon with Aoi?"

"Well, what kinds of Dust are there?" he asked.

"For starters," Weiss answered, "There are the basic elements, such as fire, or ice like I use. You can almost mix different kinds to try and get something different, though, I wouldn't advise that. Usually, an attempt at that does nothing more than damage the weapon beyond repair. Considering the fact that you use multiple items as a single weapon, you might be able to make great use of a lightning element Dust infusion."

Aoi perked up at this. "That sounds cool," he said. He thought about it for a moment. "I really like the sound of that. Let's go for that."

Weiss nodded, and began collecting the necessary things, as Ruby and Aoi prepped Moretsuna hogo-sha for the procedure.

_**~An hour later**_

Weiss wiped the sweat off her brow as she stood up straight, and looked at Aoi. "Well, there you go. Put it on and try it out" she told the knight. Aoi grinned, and attached the shield to his left forearm. As he drew the sword out of the shield, Shiruba could see bolts of energy criss crossing from the shield to the cross guard of the sword. The bolts stopped for the most part once the two were separated, but Shiruba could still see faint traces of energy on the sword.

Aoi looked like a kid who was just told he could have anything from the toy store that he wanted. His grin only got bigger as he swung the sword around, a faint trail of energy following it. He looked to Weiss. "Thank you so much! This is awesome!" Weiss smiled back at him.

"Now," said Ruby, "You won't be able to use your new lightning element while in cannon mode. If you tried, you might accidently set off the round in it, and blow yourself up in the process."

"I definitely wouldn't want to do that," said Aoi. "Besides, this is enough as it is! Hey Shiruba, let's have a practice match! I wanna see what this new puppy can do!"

Shiruba grinned at his friend. "Sure, why not?" Before they could move, though, Weiss interjected.

"What about you, Shiruba? Before you start, do you want to imbue your weapon with anything?"

Shiruba waved away the offer. "Thanks, but I'm good. The faint light it gives off would give me away if I were sneaking around, and besides, I already imbued Tsukiakari with a small amount of Dust to make it able to hold up to the stress I put on it." Weiss nodded in understanding. Together, the group heading to one of the training rooms.

Once they reached the training room, Shiruba and Aoi took opposite sides of the floor, while Ruby and Weiss went to the stands to watch. Shiruba twirled Tsukiakari as he waited for the signal to begin, while Aoi dragged his blade across the shield, causing bolts to jump back and forth from the two.

As the buzzer went off, both friends charged towards each other. Aoi swung his sword, the air crackling with energy behind it. As Shiruba ducked under the blade, he could feel the heat of the energy. Bringing Tsukiakari up in an underhand attack, the cane was deflected off of the shield, sparks jumping as the two collided. Shiruba jumped back, only to collide with a shield that Aoi created behind him. As this happened, Aoi leapt forward, his sword extended out in a piercing stab. Before the blade could connect, Shiruba knocked it to the side with his cane, and brought his left shoulder into the shield in an attempt to give himself some space. The larger knight didn't budge an in, so Shiruba gave up the attempt.

Knowing he had to get some distance between himself and the knight, he phase-jumped back, out of Aoi's reach. Shiruba launched himself at his friend, in an attempt to use the momentary confusion to his benefit. Before he could strike, Aoi did something he wasn't expecting.

Aoi slammed the flat side of his blade against his shield. Immediately, a bright light lit up the room as sparks jumped everywhere as he continued to drag the blade across the shield. Covering his eyes from the sudden light, Shiruba slid to a stop. He froze as he felt the tip of Aoi's blade against his throat. The two looked at each other for a moment before Aoi withdrew his blade and the two stood up. Aoi sheathed his sword as Shiruba replaced Tsukiakari onto his back.

The two stepped towards each other, and clasped the other's forearm, grinning brightly. "That was awesome!" they both shouted simultaneously. They could hear cheering from the stands, and looked over to see Ruby running over to them.

"That was so cool!" the girl gushed as she stared at Aoi's weapon. She looked over to Weiss, who had joined the group on the floor. "Hey, Weiss, can we try that with Crescent Rose?"

"No, you dolt," answered the girl, "All your sniper rounds would probably explode, and that'd break your precious scythe."

"Break it? No thanks!" exclaimed Ruby, to which Aoi and Shiruba started laughing. Together, the group left the training room, and parted ways after Aoi thanked the others once again.

As they walked, Shiruba looked over at Aoi. "Where'd you

learn those moves? I've never seen some of those before."

"My brother taught me everything I know," answered Aoi, "I spent most of my life training with him."

"I'd like to meet him," said Shiruba, "It'd be really cool if he could teach me some of them." Aoi shook his head at this. "Why not? Asked Shiruba, confused.

"My brother was killed in an accident a few years back" Aoi said quietly. Shiruba was taken aback by this statement. "We spent a lot of time training outside the walls, and one day we got outmatched. He got hit in the leg by a nevermore's feather, and before I could reach him, an ursa tore him to shreds."

Shiruba didn't know how to respond. 'That would explain his temper flaring up sometimes' he thought to himself.

"That's why I'm here, at Beacon" continued Aoi. "He was going to be a hunter. He was supposed to leave later that year. We weren't supposed to be out there, but I asked him to help me train, begged him, really. I wanted to go with him." Turning, Aoi punched the wall. "If I hadn't asked him to, my brother might still be alive. That's why I want to continue his dream. I want to fight the Grimm, and to protect people." He looked at Shiruba.

"I know what it's like to lose someone you care about too," Shiruba said, almost inaudibly. "I guess I'm the same as you. If I had been stronger, I might have been able to protect them. Now I have Mori, and even though she's strong on her own, I can't let something happen to her." He looked away, out one of the windows.

"Don't you worry about her." Shiruba heard Aoi say. Looking back at his friend, he saw fire in the knight's eyes. "I promise you, I won't let anything happen to her" Aoi said confidently.

Shiruba turned to face Aoi fully. "You better not." he said to his friend, "I'll hold you to that." Shiruba grinned at the knight, who returned the grin. Together, the two returned to their dorm, arms over each other's shoulders as they walked in.

_**A/N~ Well guys, I gotta say, I wasn't planning on giving Aoi this new ability, but I think it fits him very well! What do you guys think? Also, so hints to Shiruba's past, revealed! What do you think happened? Also, if there are any artists out there who would like to make a cover photo for this, go ahead and pm me!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	16. CH 16: Understanding

_**~End of classes**_

Shiruba and Hikari were walking together after classes ended for the day. As they walked back to their dorm, they heard an explosion from one of the rooms, and were knocked off to the side by a white blur.

"Weiss! Wait!" the two heard, as the saw Ruby rush out of the room into the hallway. "Oh crap, she's gone already…" she said before noticing the two on the ground. "Oh, hey, what are you two doing?" asked Ruby.

"That's what we should be asking you." said Hikari, "What just happened? Why were we just hit by the Schnee express?"

Ruby's faint smile dropped, and she looked down. "That'd be my fault," she confessed. "I was curious about the scar she has on her eye." Shiruba grimaced. He knew what it was like to be asked about scars, but he couldn't say he hadn't been curious about the heiress's scar, surprisingly prominent. "I was bugging her about it," continued Ruby, "She didn't seem to want to talk about it, and when I kept asking she got mad. It made things even worse when I dropped that Dust crystal, and blew us up again."

"Well," said Shiruba, "If I were you, I would go find her."

"I know," Ruby responded immediately. "I have to find her, I just don't have any idea where to look."

Shiruba looked at the girl, and sighed. "We could help you out, I guess."

"Oh, would you?" exclaimed Ruby, rushing over to him. "Please, help out! I don't want Weiss mad at me!" Shiruba looked over at Hikari.

"Fine, whatever." Hikari said. "Let me call the others. We were supposed to go to the movies, let me remind you." she said as she glared at Shiruba, who rolled his eyes, knowing she wasn't really angry.

After Hikari called the others, the three split up to look for Weiss. Ruby went to check the areas around the dorms, Hikari around the upper levels of the buildings and the roofs, and Shiruba decided to look around the school grounds. Shiruba checked the cafeteria, and the grounds outside of the school, but didn't find a trace of the girl. Shiruba felt his pocket vibrate, and when he took out his scroll, he saw that Ruby was calling him. "Hey," he said as he answered the phone, "Did you find her?"

"No." Ruby answered, sounding dejected, "I couldn't find her anywhere! Where could she be, Shiruba?"

"Don't worry, Ruby." Shiruba calmly said, "We'll find her. Let me call Hikari, and if she hasn't found Weiss yet, we can decide where to go from there." As he finished saying this, his scroll started to ring in his ear. "Oh, that must be her now." Shiruba answered the call, turning it into a conference so that all three of them could talk together.

"Did you find her?" asked Ruby.

"Yes, I found her. You guys should come up to the roof. I'll wait for you two before trying to talk to her." answered Hikari.

Shiruba nodded, even though the others couldn't see him. "We'll be there as fast as we can. Ruby, wait for me to get there before you go talk to Weiss, ok?"

"Ok!" promised Ruby, who promptly hung up her scroll. Shiruba did the same, and ran off in the direction of the school.

_**~Entrance to the roof**_

As he walked out onto the roof with the others, Shiruba was surprised to see that Hikari had her scythe. "What?" she asked, noticing he was looking at her. "I used it to get around faster." Shiruba rolled his eyes, and looked over to the other end of the roof, where Weiss was standing as she looked off into the distance.

Ruby tentatively approached the heiress. "Weiss?" she said quietly. "I'm sorry I asked about your scar. I didn't mean to be pushy, I was just curious."

The white-clad girl said nothing as she continued to look off into the distance. Shiruba was about to say something when Hikari stomped forward, right up to where Weiss was standing. She grabbed the girl's shoulders, spun her to face Hikari, and then shoved her. "What are you doing?" asked Weiss asked angrily, "Who do you think you are?"

Anything further Weiss had to say was cut off as Hikari raised her scythe over the two. Weiss flinched badly as she did, bringing her arm up partway as if to protect herself, and didn't move. Hikari brought down the scythe with blinding speed.

Right into the ground. Weiss stared at her as Hikari took a seat on the now parallel shaft of the scythe. Once she had, Hikari said nothing, but stared at Weiss. For what seemed like centuries, the two stared at each other, one sitting while the other one was standing.

"Did he do that to you?" asked Hikari, nodding to the scar on the heiress's face.

"What?" asked Weiss, confused, "Who are you talking about?"

Hikari paused for a moment, looking at her before answering the question. "Your father."

"My father? what would he have to do with-"

In a flash, Hikari raised her hand as if to slap the girl, and Weiss took a step back, flinching again and looked away. Hikari then slowly lowered her hand, as she continued to watch the girl. The silence between the two stretched out once again.

"You wouldn't understand." The almost inaudible words came from Weiss, and she turned to look at Hikari. "You have no idea what it was like, living with that man..." she said, tears in her eyes. Hikari said nothing to her. Weiss continued. "How could you? He's one of the most powerful people in the world! Whatever my father wants, he gets. When he didn't…he got...angry."

Still, Hikari said nothing to the girl. Weiss stomped up to her, and screamed in Hikari's face. "WELL? SAY SOMETHING!" Still, nothing came from the girl. Weiss took a step back, looking angry now. "See?" she said, quieter this time, "I knew you wouldn't understand."

Slowly, Hikari raised her hand. Thinking she was about to get ready to slap her, Weiss took a step back, and froze. However, Hikari's hand never went past her head. Hikari slowly undid the front of her uniform, and opened it to show her chest. From where he was standing, Shiruba couldn't see what it was that Hikari was showing Weiss, as he was behind her. What he could see, however, was Weiss's eyes grow large as she took a step back, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. Quietly, Hikari spoke. "I know what it's like."

Shiruba didn't move as Hikari redid her uniform, and then he and Ruby approached once she had, but stayed back enough as to not disturb the conversation. Hikari continued.

"My dad, he was like that too..." Hikari said, still speaking quietly. "I was eight years old when it started. My mother died, and my father started to take care of me, as well as my younger brother and sister. He started to train me how to fight, but if I did anything wrong, he would beat the hell out of me. He did the same to my siblings, but most of it was directed at me." Hikari looked up at the sky, her voice emotionless as she spoke. "He would go and dump me in the forest, out on my own to try and survive for days if I wasn't able to do what he wanted."

Weiss stood there, staring at the faunus. Meekly, she spoke. "Why?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Why did he do those things to you?"

Hikari sighed. "Who knows? Maybe he hated me? Maybe he was just a wreck when my mother died. I couldn't give a damn about the reason, though." Hikari looked long ways at the heiress. "Who knows why anyone does anything? It doesn't matter to me. My father did what he did, and no one can change that. You have to make it stop if you want anything to change."

"How?" exclaimed Weiss. "How could I make him stop? He's the head of the Schnee Dust Company, and my father! I couldn't make him do anything if I tried." Weiss looked dejectedly at Hikari. "How did you even manage to get your father to stop?"

"I beat him at his own game." Hikari answered smoothly. "I pushed myself to do better, to not let him have any chances to hurt me, or my family. I worked my ass off, and eventually, it paid off. After I won, my father gave me my scythe, Alkamra, and at fourteen years old, I left home, rarely ever to return, and only doing so to check on my siblings."

Weiss's voice raised in pitch again. "I can't do that! My father is a monster!" she continued, her voice faltering. "He has so much at his command, I wouldn't stand a chance if I tried to stand up to him! I mean-"

Weiss was cut off, Hikari grabbed her shoulders, and drew her into a hug. After struggling to get out of the embrace, Weiss gave up. The heiress's eyes welled up with tears, and she began to cry on Hikari's shoulder. Shiruba and Ruby said nothing as the two held each other, one crying, the other's face hard as a rock yet soft at the same time.

After what seemed like hours, Weiss took a step back, brushing the tears out of her eyes as she looked at Hikari. "You ok? All better now?" asked the faunus.

"Mhmm," said Weiss. "Thank you." Hikari smiled at the girl, who smiled back.

"Now, I think there's someone who wants to talk to you." Hikari said as she jerked her head towards Ruby. Hikari stepped over to where Shiruba stood as Ruby timidly approached the heiress.

"I'm sorry, Weiss," said Ruby, "I didn't mean to push you about what happened. I had no idea that you had gone through something like that."

"And why would you have?" said Weiss, "I never told you or the others what happened to me before I came to Beacon."

Ruby nodded. "I know. I'm sorry I blew us up, again. And I'm sorry-"

"No, Ruby, I am sorry." Ruby looked to Weiss in confusion. "There was no way you could have known about what had happened, or how sensitive a topic it was to me. I should be asking you for forgiveness. I shouldn't have yelled at you, or gotten angry like I did. I'm sorry, Ruby. Will you forgive me?" Weiss asked her.

Ruby didn't move for a moment, and then smiled. "Of course!"

Shiruba grabbed Hikari's arm at this point, pulling her toward the door. "Let's let those two have some privacy." he said, and the two left the rooftop, the two girls still talking as they looked at the stars.

_**A/N~**_

_**Well, that was certainly a dark chapter. I hope I didn't make anyone too upset with this! Let me know how you feel about this change of pace.**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	17. CH 17: Rematch

_**~In combat class**_

It had been a few days since the incident with Weiss. Shiruba and the others had decided to give her some space. She always seemed to be with Ruby these days, and the two often dragged Hikari along with them when they went out. Shiruba was glad for this last part. Hikari was much like him in being cautious around people, so getting out may do her some good he thought. Shiruba's ears perked up as Professor Goodwitch spoke.

"For our next battle, some of the professors have expressed a desire to see a rematch of a previous fight, with some alterations to the fight. The participants will be Shiruba Fokkusu and Yang Xiao Long. Both of you, please, make your way down to the floor."

'Well,' thought Shiruba as he walked down to the floor, 'This should be interesting.' Once he reached the floor, he walked to the center of the room, nodded to Yang.

"Yo, what's up, Fox boy? Ready for round two?" asked the brawler. Shiruba let a small grin escape him.

"Now, for the change." said the professor. "Both participants will be allowed to choose one partner for this battle. Other than that, there are no changes to the standard rules. Who will you be picking as you partner for combat?"

Yang seemed to think for a moment before responding. "Hey Rubes! Get down here! I betcha want a rematch against Mr. Fox here."

Shiruba glared side long at Yang, before turning to speak to Professor Goodwitch. "I pick Mori as my partner." Whispers immediately picked up as the other students began to discuss the fight. Everyone knew what had happened in the fight between Yang and Mori, so there was some discussion as to whether she could hold up. Others were interested in this fight, for the reason that it pitted one set of siblings against another.

Mori and Ruby took their positions by their respective partners. "Well, you ready to go at it again?" Yang asked Mori.

Mori looked Yang dead in the eye. "This time won't be the same. Aoi is a great fighter, but no one can beat me and Shiru."

Yang grinned at this. "We'll just see about that. Come on, Rubes, let's get ready." The teams took their opposite sides of the arena and faced the opposite team, readying their stances for the fight to begin.

When the buzzer went off, Ruby blasted towards Shiruba and Mori, with Yang following close behind. Shiruba and Mori didn't move, much to the surprise of the others. Instead, both leveled their weapons, both in their firearm form. Mori waited while Shiruba unloaded his entire clip at the approaching girl. Ruby dove to the side, using her scythe to propel her out of the way.

Shiruba took a knee as he ejected the now empty clip, and Mori stood over him, her shotgun leveled at the approaching blonde. Ruby altered her path once again, and now Shiruba and Mori were being attacked from two different directions. As the two attackers reached them, Mori and Shiruba finally made a move. Mori used her semblance to change her armor into a shield, and deflected Ruby's scythe off to the side. As she did, she brought her arm around. Rather than strike with the sword, Mori decked Ruby, flipping the girl with the force of her punch.

Beside her, Tsukiakari in cane form, Shiruba fought with Yang. As the blonde approached, Shiruba brought the cane up in an underhand strike. The blonde stopped just short of the attack, and struck at the faunus with her left fist. As she did so, Shiruba turned, changing his focus to Ruby. Simultaneously, Mori rolled over Shiruba, their backs against each other, and brought her fist down on Yang's arm.

Yang jerked back, and shook her arm to loosen it up after the impact. She took a look at the pair, who had yet to say a word. "How you doing Rubes?" she called out to her sister.

"Fine, but we aren't getting anywhere!" came the answer. Suddenly, Shiruba and Mori launched off in different directions, one toward each of their opponents. As she did, Mori changed her shield into a previously unseen form. It became a short, one sided blade much like her original weapon. The difference was it was only about a foot long, and she held it in a reverse grip. Using this blade for defense, Mori assaulted Yang, countering with the short blade while she cut at the blonde with Yaju. Yang barely managed to defend against the sudden onslaught.

Shiruba on the other hand, was using the reverse end of Tsukiakari to make sure Ruby couldn't make full use of her weapons range. Ruby was using her speed to make sure he couldn't get too close to her, but she couldn't land a hit on the faunus. She slashed across, attempting to knock Shiruba off balance for a moment, but he ducked under the scythe, feeling the wind on his ears as it narrowly missed him. Shiruba leapt back out of her range.

As Yang fought, the fury of her combatant's attacks seemed to slow for just a second. Seizing the opportunity, Yang drove her knee into Mori's stomach, causing her to double over, gasping for breath. Yang took a step past her, and turned, preparing to throw the same punch that had ended their last fight. As she did, she heard Mori laugh, the first sound from her opponents yet. "You really thought you could get me with the same move twice?" As Mori said this, Yang felt an arm cross over her chest from the left under her arm, and grip her right shoulder. Shiruba kicked out the blonde's leg from behind, and threw her into the ground. He raised Tsukiakari to finish her, but was fended off by Ruby.

Shiruba and Mori both leapt back, stretching the distance between them and their opponents. Ruby helped Yang to her feet. The blonde turned and spat off to the side, before looking towards Shiruba with a large grin on her face. "I knew this would be a fun fight." she said. "Well Ruby" Yang continued as she turned toward her sister, "I think it's time to take the training wheels off. How about you show these two your speed now?"

Ruby nodded, and began racing back and forth, getting faster with every second. Yang stood there, a grin on her face. 'They may be good' she thought, 'But no one can beat Ruby's speed.' At this point, Shiruba and Mori were back to back, attempting to fend off the girls attacks. Ruby was now using the walls of the fighting area, launching herself at the pair in the center. Yang's smile as Shiruba said his first sentence of the fight.

Turning to his sister, Shiruba spoke. "Hunter and Prey." At this, Mori's face lit up, and both siblings pulled up their hoods. She sheathed Yaju onto her back, and rubbed her hands together for a moment, a strange, evil looking grin on her face. Yang started to get uneasy, but before she could call out to Ruby, Mori made her move. Her aura flashing up around her, Mori roared as she slammed her palms into the ground. What happened next, Yang could never have seen coming. It was as if the ground had come to life. Shafts of stone rose up all over the room, seemingly shaped like trees, complete with branches and rough spots. Ruby smashed into one of these, not expecting it to suddenly raise up in front of her.

Yang raced over to her sister. Before she could reach Ruby however, she was hit in the side as Shiruba appeared right behind her. She slid to a stop and turned to retaliate, only to see Shiruba launch himself off the side off one of the trees back into the "forest". Yang glanced at one of the monitors above the combat area. 'She should only take one hit to go into the red zone' she thought as she looked at the bar indicating Mori's aura level. "Come on Rubes!" she called out, "Let's go show'em!" As she said this, she stumbled as she was hit again when Shiruba passed by her. Shiruba continued past her, and smashed into Ruby's side before Yang could call out. Again, Shiruba disappeared back into the stone trees.

Ruby hit the ground and tumbled, popping right back up onto her feet. She launched herself directly towards the forest. Yang turned, and saw Shiruba appear off to the side of Ruby, racing to intercept her. "No you don't!" yelled out Yang, who launched herself at the faunus.

Shiruba turned in shock, only to receive a solid punch in the gut, courtesy of the blonde brawler. He went flying back into the forest. At the same time, Ruby flipped over, about to use a tree to push herself off to intercept him. At that moment, Mori dropped her aura, the forest instantly disappearing as the room returned to normal. Ruby flipped, headed straight for Mori. Simultaneously, Shiruba back flipped, sliding between and past the two girls. Mori stood up, and smashed her left arm into Ruby as she flew by, crushing the girl into the ground. Ruby's aura meter dropped down into the red zone, eliminating her from combat. Mori stood up to face Yang as Shiruba walked up to her side.

Yang watched the two hooded fighters. She had defiantly underestimated the pair. She had thought that she and Ruby were able to fight in sync pretty well, but they had nothing on these two. Yang pumped her gauntlets, loading fresh shells in both, and readied herself to fight. At the same moment, the three fighters launched themselves at each other, Yang roaring as she did.

_**~After the fight**_

Yang was sitting down in one of the side rooms, having her arm bandaged by Ruby. She looked up as Mori entered the room and sat down on one of the opposing benches. Mori looked over at the blonde as Ruby left the room. Yang was unsure if Mori was glaring at her, or looking past her. Finally, Mori spoke up. "Nice fight out there. Shiruba and I haven't had someone give us a run like that in a long time."

Yang grinned. "You too. Man, you guys were like robots out there. You always seemed to know exactly what the other person was doing."

Mori looked off to the side. "Well, we've had loads of experience fighting together. It was a constant battle to live when we were out on the streets." Yang blinked in surprise, and Mori explained to her how the two grew up on the streets.

"He never told me any of that" Yang said.

Mori looked at her. "And why would he?" she asked.

"I dunno" Yang confessed, "It just surprised me. I can't really see him living out on the streets."

"Yeah well, my brother doesn't talk about it very much" said Mori.

At this point, Yang stood up. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, but I'm gonna head back to my dorm. See ya." With that, Yang left the room. As she turned into the hallway, Yang walked headfirst into someone. "Hey, watch it!" She then noticed who it was that she had walked into. "Oh, hey there Fox boy" she said with a grin. Shiruba rolled his eyes at her. Now in his casual clothes, he was leaning against the wall by the door to the classroom. "So Whatcha doing?"

"Waiting for my sister" came the short answer. Shiruba looked over toward the brawler. "Why do you ask?"

Yang grinned widely. "Not anymore!" she exclaimed, and grabbed the collar of his cloak.

"Hey!" yelped Shiruba, "What are you doing?"

"WE" Yang answered, "Are going to a party. Don't worry, I'll let your team now you won't be back just yet." With that, a protesting faunus was dragged away by the blonde brawler.

_**~Later, at the party**_

Shiruba stood off to the side of the room on his own. Yang had dragged him off to this party, and ran off into the crowd when they got there. Shiruba slipped off into one of the side rooms. He shivered. 'God I hate crowds' he thought to himself. He wandered over to the window, and sat in the windowsill, looking out at the stars. He turned his head as the door creaked, and saw Yang standing in the doorway.

"Hey there Fox Boy" she said, "Why are you hiding in here?"

Shiruba answered as she walked over to him. "I don't like being in group of people. It's much better being off on my own."

"Aww that's no fun" she said, leaning on the wall on the opposite side of the window. "But I can kind of understand what you mean. Ruby was like that too, before she came to Beacon." Shiruba raised an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look" laughed Yang, gently socking his shoulder. "I'm telling the truth. Until she came here, my sister didn't have any friends. At one point I even thought she was in love with her scythe."

At this, Shiruba laughed. "You know what? I could totally see something like that happening" he said, as he looked back out the window.

"Hey now! That my sister you're talking about!" exclaimed Yang in mock offense. The act didn't last very long, as she began to giggle. Once she stopped, the two sat there in silence.

Yang then spoke up. "So, tell me. Why do you dislike crowds so much? It's like you don't trust people."

Shiruba turned his head to look at Yang. "I don't" he said quietly. The look in his eye made Yang pause for a moment. Shiruba turned back towards the window.

"Why is that?" Yang asked, unwilling to drop the subject.

Shiruba sighed and spoke, still looking out the window. "It's not something I talk about. I haven't even told Mori about it." Shiruba didn't say anything after that.

Yang decided to let it drop. 'If he hasn't even told Mori, there's no way he would tell anyone else' she thought to herself.

"It happened a long time ago." Yang's head turned toward Shiruba in shock. He was still looking out the window. "Well before I met Mori, my parents and I lived together. My parents were some of the only faunus who didn't take part in the rallies." Yang knew what he was talking about. The protests set up by the group now known as the White Fang. Before, they had been a peaceful group. It was only in recent years that they changed into a terrorist cell.

"One night, my parents threw a party. Nothing too dangerous or loud, just a simple get together. That's when it happened. Gunshots rang out, and everybody started panicking and started running. My father was one of those who were shot. By one of his best friends" Shiruba continued, tears in his eyes. "I almost died too. Crushed by the crowds. If my mother hadn't grabbed me, and wrapped herself around me, I would have." Yang stood there in silence, listening to the sorrowful tale. "My mother died protecting me, crushed by the crowd of people she had invited over." Shiruba squeezed his calf tightly. "And so, I became an orphan. Rather than go live with some other family, I ran off in the night, taking my father's cane with my."

"Your weapon?" asked Yang.

Shiruba shook his head. "No, that cane was stolen from me when I lived out on the streets, the day I met Mori. I made Tsukiakari during my time in Signal, as a way of remembering my family." "He held up the necklace he was wearing. A blue teardrop, it was simple, but at the same time beautiful. "This was my mother's. The last thing I have from them" he finished, a small, sad smile on his face.

Yang set her hand down on his shoulder, and looked out the window with him. Together, the two watched the stars in silence. Shiruba stood up, and walked to the doorway. Yang watched him without saying a word. As he stood in the doorway, Shiruba turned his head to look over his shoulder at her, the sadness that had been on his face earlier now gone. "You coming, Tiger?" he asked.

Yang looked at him, before smiling. "Of course I am, Fox Boy. What would you do without me?" she asked as she jogged out the door to catch up to him.

_**A/N~**_

_**Well, here's Shiruba's backstory for you guys. Tragic, but not the normal batman style I so often see. Tell me what you think! It really helps when you guys leave a review, or fav/follow my story! Also, from now on, the chapters are going to be more spread out than they have been in the past. This is because I want to improve the quality of the chapters, as well as the length, as I feel that such sort chapters can leave out a lot. So rather than the every other day I had been doing before, I am probably going to be posting about once a week, or every other week.**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	18. CH 18: Missing

Shiruba slammed his hands down on the table. "What do you mean they're missing!?" he shouted in anger. Hikari put her hand on Shiruba's shoulder, but he didn't even look at her, focused on the person sitting in front of him.

Ozpin merely looked at the faunus, waiting for his anger to subside. Once Shiruba had seemed to get ahold of himself, the headmaster put down his mug and addressed the two. "As I said before, your sister and Aoi went on a scouting mission. The purpose of this mission was to ascertain whether or not reports of a possible White Fang hideout in the area were true. Late last night, we lost contact with the pair, and haven't heard from them since."

Shiruba wasn't happy, to say the least. "Why didn't you send us out as a team?" he demanded. "Or at least send me? I'm much better at sneaking around than either of them!"

"Yes, you are," answered Ozpin, "but you and I both know that your sister and her partner work together much better than you and your own. Any more than two people would have been easily found, as you well know."

"Tsch." Shiruba turned around, his fists clenched. Before he could storm away, however, Hikari grabbed his arm. "Shiruba, wait!" she exclaimed. "You and I both know that getting angry like this isn't going to help Mori or Aoi."

Shiruba looked to her. "What do you expect me to do?" he nearly shouted. "My sister is out there, missing! As is Aoi!" Shiruba started to pull away, but Hikari refused to let go of him.

"You can't just storm out there on your own, though!" she yelled back at him.

Ozpin cleared his throat. Both the teenagers paused, and looked over to him. At this point, a knock came from the door. "Come in." The door swung open to reveal Juane, who entered the room, followed by the rest of team JNPR.

Shiruba looked at them for a moment, before jerking his arm away from Hikari. He then stormed his way to the door. Before he could reach it, however, Jaune stood in his way. "Shiruba, stop." said the blonde.

He refused to stop, and walked right up to Juane, his face inches from the blonde's. "Juane, Get out of my way, NOW." he finished forcefully. Juane shook his head as he looked Shiruba in the eyes.

"Headmaster," started Pyrrha, "What is going on?"

Ozpin looked at the Spartan. "Mr. Fokkusu, here is upset."

Before he could continue, Shiruba spun around, cutting him off. "With good damn reason to be!" Juane put his hand on the seething faunus's shoulder, stopping Shiruba from continuing.

"As I was saying," continued the headmaster, "Shiruba's sister and her partner have gone missing on a mission I sent them on."

"What?" exclaimed Nora, "Missing!" Nora immediately began shooting off questions like a machinegun before Ren shushed her.

Juane looked to the headmaster, still blocking Shiruba's path. "What are we going to do?"

"That," said Ozpin, "is why I have called you here. I am sending your team to assist Shiruba and Hikari here, as they go on a search and rescue mission." Shiruba looked at Ozpin, his expression less violent than the one he had a moment before. "You may leave for the bulkhead now." continued Ozpin, "You'll be informed of the exact detail on-route." Shiruba spun on his heel, and left the room immediately, Hikari racing after him. Ozpin sighed, before addressing Juane. "And Mr. Arc?"

"Yes, headmaster?" asked the blonde.

Ozpin looked Juane in the eyes. "Try to make sure he doesn't get killed."

"Will do." answered JNPR's leader as he turned and lead his team out of the room.

Once they had left, Ozpin stood up, mug in hand, and walked over to the window, which he looked out of. He watched as Shiruba ran out to the bulkhead, having already gotten together his own gear. 'I hope that he is careful' he thought to himself.

Shiruba sat in on the edge of the open door of the bulkhead, watching as the scenery raced by as the group flew to Mori and Aoi's last known location. He sat alone, bouncing his knee in anticipation for the group to arrive. As he did, he idly played with his necklace, lost in his thoughts. He was so focused, he didn't noticed as one of the others approached him.

Shiruba jumped as a hand gripped his shoulder, and turned to see Juane sit down next to him. "Hey, pal," said Juane, "How ya doing?" Shiruba shrugged in response, turning back to watch the out the open door. Juane looked at Shiruba, noticing the look in the faunus's eyes. "You're worried for her, aren't you?" asked the blonde.

"Of course I am," said Shiruba. "Why wouldn't I be?" Juane didn't answer. The two sat there for a while in silence.

Juane gripped Shiruba's shoulder tightly. "Don't worry," he said, "We'll find them, both of them." Shiruba nodded, and gave him a small smile. At this time, the pilot came over the intercom, letting everyone know that they were approaching the first drop point. Shiruba and Juane stood up, and Shiruba pulled out Tsukiakari as Hikari walked over to him. "We'll wait for your call" said Juane, as he looked to Shiruba. "Let us know when you've found their hideout, and we'll come running." Shiruba nodded, and both he and Hikari crouched in the entranceway.

Juane looked to the pilot, who gave him a thumbs up. "Alright….three….two….one….GO!" Shiruba and Hikari leaped backwards, out of the back of the bulkhead. Juane watched as the two disappeared into the forest below. 'Be careful you two,' he thought, 'and good hunting.' With that, the bulkhead pulled up and away to a safe cruising height, so as not to be detected.

Shiruba ducked under a tree branch, and twisted his body as he fell to the forest floor. He rolled as he hit the ground, shouldering Tsukiakari as he checked his surroundings. Hikari stood in one of the trees, also looking around. Shiruba stood up as his partner dropped to the ground. He returned Tsukiakari to cane form as Hikari rested her scythe over her shoulder, and together the two started to search the forest.

Progress was very slow for them. 'There's an unusually high concentration of Grimm in this area...' Shiruba thought to himself. Ducking under a low hanging branch, he joined Hikari in a bush, out of sight of the numerous Beowolves in the area. Hikari pointed at one of the larger beowolves. "Hey, look at that." Shiruba followed her line of sight, and blinked in surprise at what he saw.

"What the? That one's got a collar on." he said, dumfounded.

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Thank you, captain obvious. It's not like I was pointing that out or anything."

"Oh, shush you." respond Shiruba as he glanced at her. He returned his attention to the beowolf with the collar on. "I'd say that means we are headed in the right direction," Shiruba continued.

"I'd say so." said Hikari, as she flashed a grin at Shiruba. Then, before he knew what was happening, Hikari spun around her scythe and launched her hook, which pierced the collared Grimm in the chest. Next thing he knew, Shiruba saw the large Grimm flying directly towards him.

Shiruba dropped to the ground, flat on his back, and watched as the beowolf passed above him. As it did so, he saw Hikari's scythe flash towards the beowolf, not only severing the beast's head, but causing the collar to fall off, landing right beside Shiruba.

He glared at Hikari. "What are you, retarded? Why did you do that?"

Hikari looked back at him. "Well, we need to know what this collar is, right? And the only way to get it is to kill the Grimm it is attached to." She picked up the collar. "Why are you so upset?" she asked.

"Because," Shiruba answered, "I bet that collar is some sort of tracking device. And whoever put it one that beast is going to find out what happened to their 'pet'. Not only that," he continued as he parted the bush so they could both look out, "but, you just told all the other Grimm in the area exactly where we are."

He was right. Not only were the other beowolves on alert now, but they had begun to circle around the bush were their leader had disappeared into. Hikari shook her head. "It's getting dark, they were bound to find us eventually. Everyone knows that Grimm are more active in the dark."

Shiruba rolled his eyes, and turned away to train Tsukiakari on the beowolf closest to them. "Just shut up and get ready to fight." he said, to which Hikari laughed.

"Get ready? I was born ready!" she shouted, launching her hook off into the trees, and swinging away from Shiruba. Shiruba ignored her, and shot three of the beowolves. He then jumped up, catching one of the branches above him, and pulled himself up into the tree. There, he reloaded Tsukiakari, and continued to fire upon the beowolves.

As he loaded his third clip, the tree that Shiruba was in shook, and when he looked down, he saw an ursa below him. The ursa raised its paw once again, and smashed it into the tree. Shiruba leapt out of the tree, and as he flipped, he sent three rounds into the back of the ursa's head, killing it instantly.

As he reached out to catch a branch, Shiruba felt something off to his side. He immediately curled his body into a ball, and grunted in pain as he was hit. The faunus went flying, and slammed into a tree, unable to catch himself as he fell to the ground. Shiruba pulled himself up, using Tsukiakari for help, and peered over to see what had attacked him. Before he would however, a white streak came flying towards his head. Throwing himself into the air, he barely avoiding the attack.

As he did so, Shiruba finally got a good look at his attacker. He was surprised to see not one, but two large Grimm in the form of snakes, known as King Taijitu. One was white while its counterpart was black. Shiruba flipped to the side as the white one attacked. While upside down in the air however, the black one struck as well. Unable to dodge, Shiruba brought Tsukiakari in front of him, preventing the snake from biting down on him.

Tsukiakari became jammed in the snakes mouth, and Shiruba was thrown clear of the snake, having lost his grip on his weapon. Shiruba got to his feet as the white snake stuck at him again. He jumped up, and flipped over the snake's head. Shiruba then ran along the snake's body, towards the black snake. It turned its head towards the faunus, Tsukiakari still stuck in its mouth.

Shiruba glanced to the side, and saw the white snake's mouth, already almost upon him. Before he could react, Hikari came flying by, and slashed out at the snake as she passed. Distracted, the snake pulled its head back, and Shiruba took advantage of the creature's momentary confusion. Running at full tilt, Shiruba leapt forward, directly into the black snake's mouth, and grabbed Tsukiakari. As the weapon came loose, the mouth of the snake slammed shut, engulfing Shiruba.

"Shit!" exclaimed a surprised Hikari, still in combat with the white snake. "Shiruba!" she cried out. Before she could rush to her teammate's aid, she was attacked by the white snake once again. As she swung towards the black snake, the white one appeared in front of her, and seemed to leap into the air at her. Releasing the hook, she tumbled backwards in the air, and avoided the snake's fangs by inches. She hit the ground hard, and ended up on her back, looking up at the black snake.

Hikari brought Alkamra in front of her, last-ditch effort to protect her from the incoming attack. At the last second however, the snake stopped, and jerked its head back into the air. It then began thrashing its head about in the air. Hikari watched in both terror and shock as the snake smashed its head into the ground, and lay there unmoving. The mouth of the snake then was forced open, and a slimy Shiruba rolled out of it and onto his back.

Hikari shook her head to overcome her shock, and jogged over to where Shiruba lay. As she did, something caught her eye, and she turned to see the white snake rushing over to where Shiruba lay. Hikari spun her scythe around, and launched her hook into the snake. Too heavy for the girl to pull towards her, Hikari instead pulled herself towards it. As she flew towards the snake, it turned its head and lashed out at her. Before the attack could land however, Hikari did something new, something she had never done before.

Twisting her body, she slammed the blade of Alkamra into the earth just long enough to send her into a spin. Now facing away from the beast, she tumbled backwards in the air, and avoided the snake's fangs. As she passed the snake, she didn't even attempt to slash out at it. Instead, she gripped her scythe tighter with both hands, yanked on the line connecting her to the snake. He direction changed in an instant, and she was again headed directly back at the snake. This time however, she was facing the Grimm. Using the momentum of her spin, she brought the scythe down past its head, so that the blade wrapped around it. With the force of her final flip she ripped her blade through the snake's body, tearing the head from the snake and landed in a crouched stance, one hand down on the ground for support, while the other was extended out, holding Alkamra.

Hikari turned her head at the sound of clapping, and saw a smiling Shiruba, now sitting as he watched her finish off the last of the Grimm around them. The sun was now well gone, and night had enveloped the pair. Hikari walked over to where Shiruba sat, and held out a hand to him. He took her hand, and she pulled him up. "Thanks for the help there" said Shiruba.

"No problem, partner." came Hikari's response.

Shiruba brushed himself off. "Now," he said, "Let's go find that damn hideout." Hikari nodded, and together the pair walked off into the darkness. As they did, Hikari noticed a light off in the distance. She pointed it out to Shiruba, and they changed their direction to head towards the source.

Shiruba squinted as they came to the edge of the cliff, and then gasped in shock. He looked to Hikari, who nodded at him with large eyes. Shiruba pulled a radio out of one of his pouches, and set it for the agreed upon frequency. "Juane, this is Shiruba, can you hear me?" he asked into it.

"Loud and clear, bud. Did you find it?" came the blonde's response.

"Yeah, I'd say so," Shiruba answered, "and you are not going to believe what else we found."

Shiruba peered over the edge of the cliff. "Dear, Oum" said Hikari in a hushed whisper, "The others are in that mess?"

Down in the field, numerous White Fang soldiers milling about were visible under the spotlights lining the area. There were also a pair of large mechs with heavy weaponry on them. That wasn't the most surprising thing in the field though. Shiruba watched in shock as a group of the soldiers attempted to restrain a nevermore into one of the large crate that was sitting in the area. In the other cages he could see beowolves and a few ursa. Then he saw it.

Shiruba gripped Tsukiakari with white knuckles as he shook in rage. In one of the cages in the back, Shiruba could see a badly beaten Mori lying motionless. Beside her sat Aoi, a large bruise on the side of his face. Shiruba heard Hikari suck in her breath in shock next to him.

As they watched, a soldier approached the cage that Mori and Aoi were in. He appeared to say something to Aoi. The knight's only response was silence. The soldier, now angry, slammed the butt of his rifle into the cage. Aoi promptly flipped off the soldier. The soldier turned to leave, but stopped when Aoi addressed him. Immediately, the soldier turned and slammed his rifle into Aoi's head, knocking the knight over.

"That fucker!" swore Hikari. Shiruba turned to see her prepare to throw herself over the edge.

"Hikari wait!" Shiruba said, "We need to wait for the others!"

Before she could say anything, they heard shouting coming from down below. Shiruba saw the soldiers running around frantically, and immediately knew something was wrong as both of the mechs powered up. "Shit" he said, "It looks like they are getting ready to leave. Did the catch the bulkhead on radar or something?"

"Who cares" answered Hikari, "We don't have time to sit here and argue." She then jumped off the cliff.

Shiruba swore under his breath. 'Again, jumping off on your own' he thought to himself as he jumped over the edge, sliding down the side of the cliff face, 'Every damn time'. He rolled over his shoulder when he hit the ground, and broke into a sprint to the cage containing Mori and Aoi. As he sprinted, he changed Tsukiakari into rifle form, and shot at the Fang members, who were slow to react to the sudden attack.

Shiruba sprinted to the cage, catching a glimpse of Hikari swinging around as she fought the soldiers. Along the way, he passed a table. Shiruba stopped, and saw that the table had Mori and Aoi's weapons on it, as well as the knight's armor. He grabbed a bag on the side of the table, and shoved all of them into it, before continuing to the cage.

Shiruba tossed the bag to the side of the door as he reached the cage, as Aoi looked at him in surprise. "Shiruba. I should have known you'd come looking for her" the knight said, nodding to Mori, who was still lying on the ground.

"You too bud" came Shiruba's response. "We're teammates, like hell I'm gonna leave you out here." Shiruba took a knee by the door as he set down his weapon, and peered into the lock. "This lock looks much more complicated than I expected. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to go find the keys."

"I bet one of the guys in the mechs has the key" said Aoi. "Those guys seemed to be the leaders of the group, or at least more important than the others." Shiruba nodded, and picked up Tsukiakari as he stood up. "Be careful out there" the knight warned. Shiruba gave him a thumbs up, before shoulder the weapon and jogging off.

Shiruba shot one of the guards before the guard could do the same to him. Shiruba then heard a piercing cry, and ducked instinctually. He looked over to see that one of the guards had released the nevermore from the beast's cage, and the large creature thrust itself into the air.

Shiruba didn't have time to think about the Grimm however, as one of the mechs turned to face him, letting a burst of automatic fire off in the faunus's direction. He leapt to the side as dirt kicked up where he had been, sliding to a stop as he changed Tsukiakari to cane form. 'There is no way my shots will make it through that armor' Shiruba thought to himself.

Instead of trying to shoot at the mech, Shiruba charged the mech, sliding under one of the arms that swung out at him. Regaining his feet, Shiruba rushed not straight at, but to the side of the mech. He jumped with an arm outstretched, and grabbed ahold of a handle on the side of the mech. Shiruba held on tightly as the mech spun around, the pilot not knowing he had grabbed ahold of it, and thinking that he had run around to attack from behind.

Once the mech had spun around, Shiruba jumped up, latching onto the top of the mech with his cane, and pulled himself to the top. 'Man I wish Aoi were out here right now' he thought as he did, 'His cannon would make mincemeat out of this hunk of junk.' Shiruba looked over the side of the mech, and his ears perked up. 'My oh my, what do we have here? An emergency hatch release? How thoughtful.'

The front of the mech swung up and open as he pulled the release lever, and Shiruba swung into the opening using Tsukiakari. What he didn't expect was to be punched in the face as entered the opening. Shiruba flipped backwards, barely managing to get his feet under him as he sailed back through the air.

The pilot jumped to the ground as the mech shut down, and ripped a pistol out of a holster on his leg. Not saying anything, the man opened fire on Shiruba, who leapt behind a stack of crates to protect himself.

Shiruba waited for a pause in the fire, and then charged out of cover. As he did, Shiruba saw the soldier frantically trying to reload his pistol. Shiruba leaped into the air, Tsukiakari raised above him. At the same time, the soldier finally reloaded the pistol, and swung it up at Shiruba, yanking back on the slide as he did.

_**Bang!**_

Shiruba felt the bullet whiz by his face, missing him by inches as he brought Tsukiakari down on the soldiers head. The soldier crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Shiruba bent over, and began searching the man's body, searching for the key to the cage that Mori and Aoi were trapped in. He found a single silver key, which was hung around the soldier's neck on a small chain. Shiruba yanked on it, popping off the chain, and squeezed the key tightly in his hand.

Shiruba sprinted over to wear the cage was, dashing side to side as he avoided shots from both the remaining soldiers, and the second mech, that was still in operation. He slid down onto one knee as he reached the gate, and withdrew the key. "Nice!" said Aoi, who had somehow managed to get his gear through the bars of the cage, and had gotten his armor on. "You got the key!"

"You know it bud!" said Shiruba with a grin, "Now hold on, I'm gonna get you guys out of there.

Hikari then swung by, and shouted "Hurry up Shiruba!" as she passed them.

Just as Shiruba was about to put the key into the keyhole, he thought he heard something behind him. "Watch out!" shouted Aoi, and Shiruba spun around to see a beowolf almost upon him.

'Shit' Shiruba thought, 'One of the guards must have another set of keys.' He jumped up as the beowolf clawed at him, twisting to avoid the deadly attack. As he flipped over the creature, Shiruba hooked Tsukiakari on the shoulder of the beast, and landed with his feet one the Grimm's back. "Aoi! Catch!" he shouted, tossing the key to Aoi with his other hand.

In doing so, he lost his chance to get away from the beowolf, which reached over its shoulder with one paw, grasping the faunus, and ripped him from its back. The creature, its large paw holding Shiruba by his chest, brought the faunus's face in front of its own, and roared as loud as it could.

Shiruba cringed at the noise, his ears flat against his head to protect from the extreme volume. He then brought up Tsukiakari, now in rifle form, and with one arm rammed the barrel into the underside of the creature's jaw. He pulled the trigger, and the beowolf's head exploded, black blood splashing into Shiruba's face. Together, the pair fell, the beast landing atop Shiruba.

As much as he tried, Shiruba couldn't get the body off of him. All off a sudden, the weight was lifted off of him, and Shiruba was looking up at Aoi, who had a hand outstretched to him. Shiruba smiled, and grasped the knight's hand, letting himself be pulled up. "Thanks."

Aoi grinned. "No problem" he said, before sticking his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Mori. "Now go help her. I know you must have been worried sick over her." Shiruba nodded, and ran over to the cage, while Aoi jogged off to go fight.

Shiruba knelt down by Mori, and began checking her. Her let out a sigh in relief. Though it looked bad, it isn't as bad as he had thought when he first saw her. 'Thank Oum' he thought to himself as he looked over her. 'Still, she needs medical attention. Juane's team better get here fast, or we are gonna be in deep shit.' Shiruba then delicately lifted Mori up, making sure not to jostle her in a way that might cause the girl pain.

As he brought her out, Shiruba saw Hikari in front of one of the mechs. He ran over to one of the stacks of crates, and gently set down Mori, and took a knee beside her to watch over her. Shiruba then pulled out his radio and switched it on. "Juane!" he roared into it, "Where the hell are you?"

"Almost there!" Came the blonde's response. "We hit some turbulence on the way, which knocked us off course! Give us two minutes!"

"Make it one!" shouted Shiruba into the radio, before stashing it into one of his back pouches. Then he heard it, and jerked his head to the side.

Hikari leapt up into the air to avoid the shots from the mech, twisting in the air as she launched off her grappling hook, which she used to pulled herself farther back from the mech. She spun on her heel as she hit the ground, again casting out the hook. She yanked herself towards the side of the mech. Before she could reach it, the mech brought down its arm, smashing into the ground, and knocking the girl onto her back.

The mech lowered its arms, guns directed at Hikari as she got to her feet. Before the mech could shoot, something exploded to its side. Both Hikari and the mech turned to see Aoi with a grin on his face, smoke trailing up from his cannon.

Hikari took advantage of the pilot's momentary lack of awareness, and shot her grappling hook towards it. The hook passed under the mech, between the mechanical giant's legs as is collided with a large stack of cages. Hikari Flew towards the mech, which desperately tried to turn in time to ward off the attack, but to no avail.

Hikari slashed out, slicing cleanly through one of the leg joints. The mech feel to the side, the pilot barely managing to catch himself with the mech's arm. Before he could do anything else however, the cockpit exploded with another one of Aoi's shots, which set off the metal monster's magazine compartment. The resulting explosion cause both Aoi and Hikari to shield their eyes from the sudden light.

Hikari jogged over to the knight. "Thanks for the help there big guy" she said.

"Thankful enough to let me touch those ears of yours?" the knight asked with a grin.

"Do you want your hand broken?" the faunus asked, to which Aoi chuckled,

"No thanks" he said, a grin on his face. Suddenly, Aoi's face changed. Simultaneously, he shouted "Watch out!" as Hikari heard a roar from behind her. She spun around to see an ursa behind her, a large paw raised above her. Hikari took a step back in shock as the beast swung at her.

Before she knew it, Aoi brought his arm in front of her, forcing the faunus behind him. Taking the brunt of the hit, the two were thrown back, Aoi landing atop Hikari.

Hikari groaned in pain as she regained her senses. "Ugh, get off me you big lump" she said, as she rolled Aoi off of him. She sat up, and saw that the ursa had turned away, roaring at one of the White Fang soldiers still in the area. Hikari set her hands down to prop herself up, when she felt something sticky on her hand. Bringing her hand up to her face, Hikari froze as she realized what it was that was covering her hand. She slowly turned her head to see Aoi laying there, a grimace on his face as he fought to hold on to his consciousness.

Aoi's chest plate was torn to shreds, blood visibly seeping through the ragged metal as the large knight lay there. Hikari barely breathed as she sat there, trying to process what was before her. Once she had, she did one thing.

Hikari screamed.

_**A/N~ Not much to say this time around guys. If you want to see some concept art of the OC's, check out my DeviantArt page, which is under the same pen name as on this. Though only Shiruba, Hikari, and Aoi are up as of now. Mori is on the way, as well as some various scenes from the story and other concept art from various artists! We did hit over 650 views too! Thanks everyone!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	19. CH 19: The Rescue

_**A/N~ Passed 750 views! Thanks everyone!**_

_**HeroBladeRiyet: Yes, there is blood.**_

_**ThePhantomScribe: Thanks! Glad you are liking it!**_

Shiruba, having heard a scream, jerked his head over to see Hikari kneeling by Aoi, who was laying on the ground. Shiruba's blood went cold as he watched the frantic girl. He was about to run over to them when he looked over to his sister. Mori was still sitting against the crates unconscious. 'Damn it!' he thought to himself. Shiruba's brow furrowed as he stood there, unsure of what to do_**.**_

Hikari shook Aoi's shoulders frantically as she kneeled by him, but stopped when the knight groaned out in pain. "Hey! Aoi, are you ok?! Come on!" Hikari then set Aoi down slowly, making sure not to jostle him too much. The knight lay there, unconscious. His face was contorted in pain.

Overcoming her panic, Hikari took in a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly to calm herself. She began to take stock of the situation. Hikari looked over to where Shiruba was.

The faunus was currently fighting off numerous beowolves as they attempted to reach Mori, who had yet to regain her consciousness. 'Those two aren't going to be any help' she thought to herself, 'Shiruba is barely managing to fight them off as he is.'

Hikari clenched her teeth, and was about to start taking off the knight's chest piece before pausing. 'Wait' she thought to herself, 'Will this help or make it worse?' Unsure, Hikari sat there looking at Aoi, who grimaced in pain.

Before she could decide what to do, Hikari heard a roar off to the side. She turned her head to see the ursa that had struck Aoi approaching them, having killed the soldiers. Hikari stood up, picking up her scythe as she did, and stood over Aoi, ready to protect her friend.

Hikari was in no state to fight however. Exhausted from fighting before having even reached the camp, she had already been close to her limit before she and Shiruba launched their attack. Now as she prepared to fight off the charging ursa, her arms felt like lead, and shook as she raised Alkamra.

Before the beast could reach her however, an explosion in front of it stopped the ursa in its tracks, rearing up on its hind legs. Hikari looked up to see a man land in front of the creature. The man rolled as he hit the ground, and came to a knee right in front of the ursa, barely a foot away from the Grimm. He raised both hands, his dual weapons out, and let out a burst of rounds into the ursa's head. The ursa fell backwards, and lay unmoving. Behind him, a girl landed. Or rather, smashed into the ground yelling cheerfully "We're here!" The pair stood up, revealing themselves to be none other than Ren and Nora of team JNPR, and looked over to Hikari.

Hikari looked over to see Juane and Pyrrha over helping Shiruba, Pyrrha fighting the beowolves with Juane as Shiruba ran to his sister's side.

"Sorry we're late!" said Ren. Hikari said nothing as she dropped her scythe, and the dropped to the ground, a strange look on her face.

"Hey, are you ok?" asked Nora as Hikari turned away from them and towards Aoi. As she did, she moved to the side slightly, and Nora and Ren saw the condition Aoi was in for the first time. "Oh my gosh, Ren! He's hurt!" called out Nora, and the two sprinted over to Hikari's side.

Ren looked over Aoi. "This isn't good..." he said, "This is a larger wound than what I can handle." Ren returned his twin weapons to his sleeves, and pulled out a medical kit from a backpack he had slung over his shoulder. "Nora, you cover us."

"Sure thing!" said Nora, who jumped up, swinging her hammer Magnhild up onto her shoulder, and dashed off to fight.

"Now," said Ren, addressing Hikari, "I'm going to do what I can, but I am no expert in this. We have to get him to the bulkhead as fast as possible." Hikari nodded. "First, we need to get his chest piece off of him." Together, the two gently began to take off the armor, with Ren pressing on Aoi's chest as Hikari undid the straps holding the chest piece. The armor had been crushed into the knight's chest, and was jammed in multiple spots, as well as having large tears in the metal. The two had to be very careful while trying to remove the armor, which at the moment was crushed so tight onto Aoi's body that they couldn't just remove it without caution.

"Can you hold the upper half still, while I try to bend the bottom half back into shape?" asked Ren, "We need the chest piece to be in a shape that we can get off of him without hurting him or causing more damage than there already is."

Hikari nodded slowly, and firmly grasped the top section of Aoi's armor. Hikari then looked to Ren. "I'm ready when you are." she said, much calmer than she had been before.

Ren slowly began to bend the metal back into shape, making use of his aura to control the Dust infused metal of the chest piece. Aoi groaned in pain as the metal was forced to change forms, and Hikari looked at him in concern. "Focus." grunted Ren through his teeth, "If you don't hold the top part it'll cause him even more pain." Hikari shook her head, and shifted her grip on the chest piece as Ren began to work at it again. Together, the two bent what they could of the armor into a shape easier to get off of the knight, and then slowly pried apart the sections of the chest piece.

As the chest plate came up and off of the knight, Ren shifted so that he could apply pressure better. "Hand me those bandages, will you?" he asked Hikari, who nodded, and retrieved them from the medical kit. "Thanks." Ren said as Hikari handed him the materials, and he immediately began to wrap up Aoi's chest to slow the bleeding. He continued to work, ignoring Aoi as the knight moaned in pain.

Once he had finished, Ren sat up, and wiped his brow. "That's about all I can do here. We need to get him to the bulkhead. Can you help me carry him?" Hikari nodded, and stood up, her scythe in her hand once again. Together, the two hoisted Aoi up, and supported him under the shoulders. Hikari barely managed to lift up the large knight, and used Alkamra in her other hand to help support herself. The two started to make their way to the bulkhead, which had landed not too far away, as Ren yelled to Nora, telling the girl to protect them as they did. Hikari glanced over to where Shiruba had been with Mori as they walked to the bulkhead, Nora blasting almost everything that moved.

One of the beowolves managed to get past Nora's line of explosions, having circled around and come up from behind. Hikari heard the beast as it came upon them. She immediately shoved both Ren and Aoi to the left, out of harm's way. She then leapt to the right to avoid the attack herself, jerking her arm as she did so to reload her gantlet.

_**~ ~ ~ Earlier**_

Shiruba stood there as he watched Hikari run to Aoi's side, dropping her scythe as she reached the fallen knight's side. He glanced over to where his sister lay against the crates, unsure of what he should do. Before he could make up his mind however, Shiruba turned as he heard a roar, and saw that numerous beowolves were approaching him and Mori.

Shiruba knew he couldn't let them get near Mori. If the beowolves did, they would tear his sister to shreds. 'Hikari and Aoi are going to have to wait.' he thought to himself. Almost unconsciously, Shiruba spun Tsukiakari around, changing the cane into rifle form, and began to shoot at the beowolves. He managed to drop 3 of them before the leading beowolf was upon him.

Shiruba ducked under the slash of the Grimm, and leapt past it. As he did, he changed Tsukiakari back into cane form, and hooked the creature around the neck. The beowolf tipped backward, falling on its back as the beast lost its balance. As the Grimm hit the ground, Shiruba turned, again changing his weapon's form, and put a bullet in the creatures head. Continuing to spin, Shiruba returned his weapon to cane from, and leapt back to avoid another attack from a beowolf.

Shiruba slid to a stop, grabbing at the ground with his open hand to slow himself. As soon as he had come to a stop, Shiruba charged forward, and brought his cane around in a sideways attack. The strike threw the beowolf to the side, which promptly exploded.

Shiruba looked over to see none other than Nora give him a grin and a thumbs up, before running off. Shiruba blinked in surprise, but didn't have time to think about it as another beowolf attacked him.

The beowolf got in close to Shiruba before he was able to counter it, and tackled the faunus to the ground. Shiruba barely held off the creature's fangs with his cane as he landed on his back, the Grimm on top of him. The beowolf's fangs were inches from his face as Shiruba struggled to keep the Grimm back.

Shiruba lifted his legs as close to his chest as he could, and kicked the beowolf off of him, and rolled over his back, springing to his feet. He twisted to the side, avoiding an attack from yet another beowolf as he changed Tsukiakari into rifle form to shoot at a different beowolf, when a shot rang out behind him, and the creature was blasted back, lying dead on the ground. Shiruba looked over his shoulder in surprise.

Lying against the stack of crates, Mori grimaced as she pumped her shotgun, before taking aim at another beowolf. She shot the creature before it could reach Shiruba. Shiruba grinned widely at his sister, waving to her with one hand. "Great to see you're awake and joining the party, sis!"

"Looks like you were having a great time without me. Care for some help?" she asked as she flipped her weapon over, and reached over to the bag that the confiscated weapons had been in. From it, she withdrew some shotgun shells, and proceeded to start reloading her weapon.

Shiruba didn't even bother to respond to her, but turned, changing Tsukiakari to cane form as he did. He ejected the spent clip from the cane, yanking a fresh one out of his vest and slapped it into the magazine well, which was still accessible even when in cane form. He then settled into a crouched fighting stance, and waited for another attack.

As the pack closed in, a spear came from out of nowhere, impaling itself into the chest of one of the Grimm. Shiruba looked up as Pyrrha fell out of the sky, having thrown her weapon. She landed and charged the beowolves. As she did so, JNPR's leader Juane landed close to Shiruba. "Hey, pal!" he said to Shiruba.

"About damn time you guys got here!" Shiruba told him.

The blonde scratched at his head. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Well, you'

re here now, so that doesn't matter." Shiruba responded as he shrugged. "Now" he continued, "You gonna help me, or not?"

Juane smiled. "I'll do what I can."

Before the two could continue, a roar from one of the beowolves brought them back to reality, and the two split up to go fight. As he did, Shiruba looked over to where Mori lay against the stack of crates. She waved him off. Now that she was awake, she was able to protect herself, though she wasn't able to move around on her own due to her injuries. To emphasis this, and pumped her shotgun loudly, with a large grin on her face and a thumbs up to Shiruba.

Shiruba turned back to the fight. Juane seemed to be doing alright, but he was having trouble reaching his partner. The Spartan was starting to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Grimm in the area. Not only were there beowolves, but there was also an ursa approaching her.

Shiruba sprinted over to her, leaping over and sliding under the beowolves and their attacks, not bothering to counter them. He slid to a stop however, as the ursa stepped between the two. Shiruba paused for a moment to think. He didn't have long to do so, as the ursa began to approach him. 'This one's smart.' he thought to himself. Rather than charging him, the ursa was taking its time, and seemed to be evaluating the faunus.

Shiruba decided to take the initiative. Spinning his weapon as it changed forms, Shiruba leaned forward as he shouldered Tsukiakari, and squeezed the trigger, letting off three rounds at the creature. The ursa raised one of its paws, shielding its face from the shots. As it did so, the creature's vision was momentarily blocked. As the creature raised its paw, Shiruba charged at the creature. Just before he could reach it, the ursa lowered its paw just enough so that it caught sight of him.

Lashing out with its paw, the ursa attempted to catch him as he attacked. Shiruba had seen this coming however. Just before the ursa had attacked, he slowed his pace just a little. As the large paw slashed through the air where the faunus would have been, Shiruba vaulted over it, using his left arm to grip the arm of the ursa and support him as he twisted through the air.

Now facing the same way as the ursa, Shiruba let his legs spread out slightly as he flew backwards. His feet slammed into the shoulders of the Grimm, and then Shiruba slid down onto the creature's neck. 'Well, doesn't this seem familiar?" he thought to himself, his thought turning to the first time he had seen Nora during initiation.

Shiruba brought his arms together as he shouldered Tsukiakari once again, the barrel of the rifle now directly behind the ursa's head. Shiruba squeezed the trigger twice, and two rounds ripped through the Grimm's skull. The ursa's body shuddered, and then slumped down to the ground. Once it had settled, Shiruba hopped off of the now dead ursa, and turned to take stock of the situation.

From what he could see, Ren and Hikari were bent over Aoi, while Nora was covering them. Shiruba was worried for his friend, and grew even more so as he saw Hikari and Ren attempting to bend the knight's chest piece. 'It must be crushed around his body,' Shiruba thought to himself, 'I hope he's okay.'

Shiruba looked over to where Juane and Pyrrha were. The two were still fighting beowolves, and unable to reach each other. Shiruba shouldered his rifle once again, and peered through the scope as he leaned into the rifle. He shot off a few rounds, each one of them tearing through a different beowolf's skull, and then ran to keep the gap open so that Juane and Pyrrha could meet up.

"How are you guys holding up?" Shiruba asked the two as they continued to fight the pack.

"Just fine!" answered Pyrrha.

"Hanging in there, somehow" came Juane's answer.

"Well" Shiruba called out, "How are we going to get out of here?"

"The dropship is landed not far from here" said Pyrrha.

"We need to get out of here!" said Shiruba. "And the sooner the better." Anything else he was going to say was cut off as he hit the ground to avoid an attack.

"Pyrrha!" called out Juane, "Can you cover Shiruba and I while we go and get Mori?"

"Absolutely!" answered Pyrrha.

Having gotten this response, Shiruba smashed his cane into the face of a beowolf, spun on his heel as he changed his weapon to rifle form, and sprinted to Mori as he shot another beowolf. As he did, Juane ran over to them as well.

The two reached Mori, who was fishing in the bag for more shotgun shells. "Mori" said Shiruba as he reached his sister. "Do you think you can move?"

"Absolutely no way in hell" Mori responded, a small laugh escaping her. "I can barely feel my legs right now."

"Damn it" Shiruba swore as he kneeled down beside her.

"You take care of her" said Juane as he reached the two a moment later, "I'll try to cover you guys."

Shiruba nodded to his friend, and turned to look back at Mori. She finished loading her shotgun Yaju, and grinned at Shiruba, her arm outstretched to him. Shiruba bent over, and gently lifted the girl up. "Been a long time since you've carried me like this."

"Oh hush" Shiruba said as he stood up. Mori smiled, and pumped her shotgun in response. "You can help cover me too ya know. Seeing as how I am carrying your sorry butt."

Mori pouted. "Well, I guess so" she said as she twisted in Shiruba's arms, and shot a beowolf that had been approaching them.

The recoil shook the girl in Shiruba's arms, and he grunted as he struggled to keep upright. "Without all the twisting if possible" he said.

"You want me to help, or not?" she sarcastically asked in response as she shot another Grimm.

"Are you two gonna keep bickering?" called out Juane, "Or are you gonna actually go to the bulkhead?"

"Shut up!" but siblings yelled at him. The two then looked at each other, and then despite the situation began to laugh.

Juane shook his head in exasperation as he rolled his eyes. "Oh lighten up Juane" said Shiruba.

"Yeah!" said Mori. "No reason to fret!" she continued as she blasted another beowolf in the face with her shotgun.

As he was running, with Juane and Pyrrha covering him as best they could, Shiruba heard Hikari cry out again. Mori gasped as Shiruba looked over to see his partner dangling from her arm by the jaws of a beowolf. Ren lay not far away from her, struggling to shove Aoi off of him.

Hikari screamed out in pain as the armor on her left was crushed, the metal digging into her arm as the beowolf's teeth tore into her flesh. The pain made Hikari drop her scythe. She clenched her fist to use the machinegun built into her gantlet. Hikari's face paled even further as the gun did nothing. 'Shit' she thought to herself, 'the firing mechanism must be smashed.' She strangled down a cry as the beast shook the side to side.

The gantlet keep her arm from being ripped apart, but also keep Hikari from being able to rip her arm out of the beast's jowls. Hikari thought fast, searching for a way out of the situation. She grabbed the beast's scruff with her other hand, and used the leverage it gave her to slam her knee into the beowolf's gut. She cried out as the creature bit down on her arm even harder, but didn't stop. As the beast doubled over, she let go with her right hand, and punched the Grimm's throat as hard as she could.

Hikari felt the pressure on her arm light slightly, and knew that it was her only chance to get out alive. She gripped the beowolf's scruff once more, and swung her legs into the body of the creature. Kicking off of the beowolf as hard as she could, Hikari tore her arm out of the beast's mouth.

Hikari hit the ground hard, landing flat on her back. The beowolf roared in anger as she struggled to sit up, her left arm hanging limp at her side. As the Grimm began to slowly approach her, she frantically scanned for her dropped scythe. She saw the scythe laying on the ground, out of reach. Hikari glanced at the beowolf, and knew that she wouldn't be able to reach the scythe before the Grimm would be upon her.

The faunus raised her good arm, unwilling to give up. There was no way she was gonna let herself die here. Hikari struggled to get on her feet, using her good arm to push herself up off the ground. She stood up, clutching her left arm as it dangled uselessly.

Though hurt, the main reason she couldn't use her left arm was because of the crushed metal that encased her arm. Her aura had healed the bones, preventing them from breaking, but her arm still hurt like hell, and Hikari was afraid of causing more damage to it by trying to use it while the metal was still imbedded in her arm.

Before the beowolf reached her, Hikari heard gunshots off to the side, and looked over to see Ren. Though still pinned under Aoi, he had managed to get one of his arms free, and using one of his sub-machine guns to shoot at the creature approaching Hikari. The Grimm roared at the fallen warrior as the bullets tore through the beast's arm, but continued to advance on Hikari instead.

The shots did manage to give Hikari the time she needed. While the beowolf had been distracted, Hikari had hurriedly began to undo the straps holding her gantlet on her arm. She hissed in pain as the metal slid out of her flesh in the places that the beowolf's fangs had punctured through the metal.

Hikari dropped the now useless gantlet as the beowolf turned back to her, baring its lethal fangs as it approached her. She settled into a readied stance, prepared to make what could be a final stand. Thinking back to her days surviving on her own in the forest as a child, she got an idea. As the beowolf neared her, Hikari shook her arm gently as the feeling in it returned, and began to slowly sway side to side, her arms raised slightly.

The beowolf lashed out with a roar once it reached the girl. Ren called out to her as it did so, but Hikari ignored him, confident in herself. As the paw raced towards her head, claws flashing in the light, Hikari bent over backwards, using both arms to catch herself as the paw passed over her. The beowolf over balanced as the paw flashed over the girl, not getting the expected resistance.

Hikari then threw her legs up, supporting her whole body on her arms as she twisted around, and kicked the Grimm in the side of the skull. Hikari grinned as the attack connect, and used the momentum of her strike to roll over her side and back onto her feet. The beowolf stumbled to the side, shocked that it had been struck.

The Grimm turned, striking at the faunus in a clawed uppercut as it did so. Hikari swayed to the side as it did so, and grabbed the beast's arm as it passed by her. She threw herself up over the beast, using the creature's own arm for leverage. The beowolf craned its head to follow her, but was thrown forward as Hike fliped forward over it, the back of her boot slamming into the back of the creature's head.

As the Grimm flew forward, Hikari leapt in the other direction, and reached for where her scythe lay on the ground. Her fingers curled around the scythe as she reached the ground, and she rolled over her shoulder as she hit the ground, hopping straight back onto her feet.

Hikari swung her scythe up onto her shoulder as she turned back to face the beowolf, a small grin on her face. She launched her grappling hook in the direction of the Grimm. The beowolf raised its arm to protect itself from the claw, but the hook never connected with the beast.

The beowolf looked up just as Hikari reached it. Hikari brought her foot down on the creature's head, slamming its body into the ground. The force of the impact was strong enough to cause the beowolf to bounce back a foot into the air. As it did, the beowolf saw a glint of metal as Hikari's scythe curled around the beast's neck. This was to be the last thing the beowolf saw, and Hikari ripped the scythe up, tearing through the Grimm's neck, decapitating the beast.

Hikari grinned at her work as she swung her scythe back to its normal resting place on her shoulder, and turned to see Ren finally free himself from under Aoi, with the help of Nora. As she watched them, she heard someone call out her name, and turned to see Shiruba running to her, Mori cradled in his arms as she cradled her shotgun. Juane and Pyrrha were following close behind the brother and sister making sure that no Grimm got near them.

"Hey, are you okay?" called out Shiruba.

"Yes I am, thanks for worrying about me" Hikari responded, and then turned back to where Aoi was as she jumped off of the dead beowolf. She jogged over to them, and took her place beside Aoi to help Ren support the large knight.

Shiruba couldn't help but notice the look of concern on Hikari's face as she did so. 'That's strange' Shiruba thought to himself. It wasn't out of the ordinary to be worried for an injured comrade, but something didn't feel right to Shiruba. Not exactly wrong, but something was off. Shiruba mentally shrugged, figuring it was nothing.

The hunters and huntresses then made their way to the landed bulkhead to make their escape.

Shiruba and Hikari stood in the infirmary, where Mori and Aoi were to stay.

"Don't worry so much" said Mori as she waved off her brother. "The nurses said I should be out of her by tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah, but still!..." trailed off Shiruba.

"Enough" Mori said, slightly irritated at her brother now. "I'm fine. Besides, I'm more worried about him than me" she continued, nodding to where Aoi lay as she did.

Aoi had still not woken up, even though they had been back at Beacon for a few hours now. In that time, Hikari had not left his side, except when ushered away by the doctors so that they could work on him. The doctors had said that Aoi will be fine, and that all he needed was rest, but that did nothing to alleviate the worry that the rest of the team felt. Shiruba wondered if this is how it had been when he had been in the infirmary himself, after his first bout with Yang.

"Now" Mori said as she poked his belly, "You need to go get something to eat. You look half starved."

"That's rich coming from you" Shiruba said with a light laugh.

"So don't forget to get me something then!" Mori commanded, a small smile on her face, which quickly faded as she looked away and towards her partner.

Shiruba glanced over to the bed that Aoi lay in. Hikari was beside him, seemingly resting her head as she did so. As he looked closer, Shiruba realized that Hikari had actually fallen asleep as she sat by the knight, her head pressed up next to him as she slept, one of her hands gripping his as he lay there unconscious.

"Poor girl" said Mori, and Shiruba turned to look back at his sister. "She must feel responsible for him being in here."

Shiruba nodded. "We had better let them be. She probably wants time alone right now" he said. Mori nodded in agreement as she looked at him.

"Well, don't just stand there" Mori said, "go get me some food!"

Shiruba smiled slightly. "Fine, fine" he said, and turned to leave the room. As he stood in the doorway, he looked once more at the sleeping knight and faunus. Shiruba watched them for a moment, before turning and leaving, the door swinging shut quietly behind him.

_**A/N~ There ya have it guys! The second chapter that is a pretty good length! Tell me what you think of this new style to the chapters. I'm always happy to hear what you guys have to say! Until next time!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	20. CH 20: New Faces

_**A/N~ Super sorry for the late chapter guys! It's exam season in college, and man oh man do I have a lot of papers to write and speeches to give! Over the next month or so, till the end of April, updates are gonna be less frequent, maybe once every 2 weeks? I get a little burnt on writing by the time I finish all these long papers. On a better note, we passed 850 views! Thanks guys!**_

_**HeroBladeRiyet: Glad you liked it!**_

Mori's jaw was hanging slightly open at the site in front of her. It had been a few days since the incident, and Aoi had finally woken up the day before, and had been released from the infirmary, albeit under strict "No Combat" rules. Since he had, Shiruba and Mori were almost constantly with him, when their classes and other duties would permit. Hikari, however, had been very absent since Aoi had woken up.

Having heard something going on in one of the training rooms, Mori had poked her head in to see what was going on. Within the room was Hikari, who was practicing. She glanced over at the command console, which ran the training simulations. Even though it was at one of the most difficult settings, Hikari was making mincemeat of her enemies. Mori watched as she wrapped up what was left of the simulation, and stepped into the room as she finished and stood up, wiping the sweat from her brow.

As she turned to face her, Mori was surprised to see a new look to her brother's partner. Rather than the black combat dress she had previously worn, she now sported a more ergonomic outfit. Hikari now wore a black jacket with various pouches and leather plates to it, and a set of dark gray pants with a leather pouch worn around the right thigh that was connected to a new belt that she wore. Also, rather than the old metal forearm plates she had worn on her left arm, she now wore a black leather piece of the same design. On the small of her back, a small dark leather quiver extended out past her right hip.

However, the most shocking change would have to be what was now adorning her right arm. "What in the hell did you do to yourself?" Mori asked Hikari in surprise.

"I got a tattoo. You like it?" Hikari asked as she turned to show her arm better. On her right shoulder was a tattoo of a black crescent moon, with a bat hanging from the top of the moon. Traveling down her arm was a group of bats that appeared to be flying down from the moon to her hand.

Mori just looked at her for a moment in shock. "Why did you get a tattoo?" She finally asked.

"Because it's cool!" Hikari responded enthusiastically, "I've always been kicking around the idea of getting one, and I thought of this. Pretty cool, isn't it?"

Mori paused for a moment. "Actually," she then said, "It's not half bad."

"Oh, whatever, it's badass and you know it!" Hikari said as she laughed.

Mori shrugged, and then gestured to her. "So, what's with the new getup?" she asked Hikari.

"Well," Hikari answered, "After that last scenario in the woods, I decided it was time to drop my old gear. The dress was cute, but not very useful, and that wasn't the first time I've had that damn machine gun jam on me. So, I've decided to go with something a little more… low tech, I would say." As she said this, she raised her left arm, holding it so that her palm was up. Contained within the gantlet, Mori could see a small device on the inside of her wrist. She watched as Hikari swung her arm out, releasing the mechanism. From it, a small crossbow unfolded on her wrist.

"That's pretty cool!" said Mori.

"That's not all it does." Hikari said with a smile. "Watch this." Hikari slowly turned around, withdrawing an arrow from her quiver. The arrow head was smaller than that of a standard arrow, so as to fit within the crossbow even when folded away. She placed the arrow within the crossbow, and raised her arm to aim at a target on the other side of the training area. Hikari paused for a moment as she aimed, before letting the projectile fly.

As the arrow sped towards the target, Hikari's hand flashed gray with her aura as she curled it into a fist. As she did, the arrow of the crossbow flashed as the tail end of it lit on fire. The arrow slammed into the target, burying itself almost up to the fins. A moment later, the arrow exploded, decimating the practice target, leaving nothing but smoldering remains.

Mori gasped in surprise. "Hot damn!" she exclaimed with a smile, "What was that?"

"That," answered Hikari as she turned to look towards Mori, "Would be my semblance. It is very similar to yours. However, I do not need to be touching the object at the time I am trying to change it, nor do I simply change its shape. I am able to manipulate the composition of a projectile to cause different results. The only drawback for me is that I have to have touched the object at some point, and it has to be moving at a high enough speed for me to be able to affect it, so I can't use it on just anything, like you can use yours."

"Still, that seems pretty damn useful. Is making things explode all you can do?" Mori asked her.

Hikari flashed a grin at her friend, and spun around, withdrawing another arrow and loading it into the crossbow as she did. She again raised her arm as another practice target rose up. Letting the arrow fly, her fist again flashed with Hikari's gray aura. This time, the arrow flashed, and not one, but three arrows slammed into the awaiting target. Hikari looked back over her shoulder to Mori, who was clapping in glee.

"Oh, man, that was so cool!" Mori exclaimed.

Hikari turned back to Mori as she loaded another arrow into the crossbow. "That's not all I can do. Because I can change the properties of the arrows, I can make it do almost whatever I want it to."

Mori watched as the small crossbow folded back up, returning to its hiding spot in Hikari's gantlet. As it did so, Mori got a brilliant idea. "Hey, Hikari," she said.

"What?" asked the faunus.

"I have a great idea!" Mori said in excitement.

"Ok," Hikari responded, "And what would that be?"

"You and me. Sparring match. Right now!" the fighter said, a big smile on her face.

Hikari thought for a moment. "You know what? Sure, why not. That sounds like a good idea to me." Mori cheered as Hikari agreed to the match, and then jogged over to the other side of the training area.

Mori shifted her stance as the countdown began. Rather than her normal stance, she opted for taller stance, gripping her sword with both hands in front of her. She watched as Hikari also settled into her stance.

As the buzzer went off to start the match, Mori charged forward as Hikari swung her arm up. Mori heard the twang of the crossbow as Hikari's arm flashed for a split second. Mori twisted to the side to avoid the arrow, witch flashed right beside her head. Mori continued to race towards Hikari.

_**BOOM!**_

Mori was thrown off to the side tumbling over as she slid across the floor. She slammed Yaju into the ground, stopping herself so that she could get her feet under her again.

"Tsch," went Mori. 'Airburst too? There really must not be a limit to what she can make them do' she thought to herself as she stood. As she did, Mori had a strange feeling, and threw herself to the side. A moment later, another arrow had embedded itself into the ground, flying much faster than the ones before it had. As Mori glanced at it, she saw that it was smaller and thinner than the other ones. 'Even able to change the speed of these things huh?'

Mori wasted no time as she slid to a stop. She immediately ran at the faunus once again. This time, as Hikari's aura flashed so did Mori's. Mori brought up the newly formed shield, made out of the armor that had been on her arm a moment ago, and deflected the three arrows that sped towards her. One of them imbedded itself in her shield, but it soon fell as Mori's aura flashed for a split second, her semblance creating a hole for just enough time to release the offending arrow.

In the moments that Mori had her shield raised, she had been unable to see Hikari. Because of this, she didn't see as Hikari launched her grappling hook. The hook flew past the left side of Mori's face, the girl jerked her head to the side reflexively. Her aura flashed, and the shield returned to its original gantlet form.

As it did so, Mori was able to see Hikari just before the faunus reached her. Mori was barely able to bring her sword up in time, and blocked the scythe, mere inches away from her body. Mori stumbled as the intense pressure from the scythe suddenly disappeared.

Mori's breath was driven from her body as Hikari's boot collided with her gut, her grip on her sword loosening. Another kick threw Mori backwards across the room, Yaju slipping from her grasp as she did. She landed heavily on her back. An experienced fighter, Mori was able to use her momentum to roll over backwards.

As she regained her feet, Mori saw Hikari flash towards her. Mori brought up her arms, once supporting the other as she blocked yet another kick from the faunus that was aimed at her head. Hikari gave out a cry in surprise. She had not been expecting to be blocked. As her feet hit the ground, Hikari sprang back a few feet away from Mori.

Mori, now weaponless, had taken up a street fighter's stance. She had grown up on the streets, and knew how to handle herself, even if unarmed. Both fists were held up in front of her face, slightly apart as she steeled herself.

Truth be told, Mori's skills in unarmed combat were such that even her brother Shiruba wouldn't spar with her anymore. Hikari did not know this, however, and pressed the attack as she dashed in with her scythe again. This time, Mori was ready for her.

As Hikari's scythe came at her, Mori ducked, both of her fists in front of her face in a boxer's stance. Hikari used the momentum to swing her leg around, again kicking out at Mori's head.

Mori blocked the strike, but this time gripped Hikari's leg before the faunus could pull it back. Hikari cried out in shock and pain as Mori yanked the faunus even closer by her leg, before smashing her fist into Hikari's hand, forcing the girl to drop her scythe.

Hikari stumbled as she dropped her scythe, and barely managed to bring up one of her arms to block another punch from Mori. The faunus was thrown back, her boots sliding across the ground as she came to a stop.

Mori looked at Hikari, an evil grin on her face, and bent over to pick up the scythe. Before Hikari could react, Mori turned, and chucked the scythe away. The weapon went spinning off to the side, before the blade embedded itself into one of the walls.

The two girls now began to circle each other, both now weaponless. What had started as a friendly spar had now turned into a contest, both participants desperately attempting to clench the victory. They both tensed up as the two girls neared each other.

Hikari made the first move, dashing in as if to attack Mori. Expecting another high attack, Mori was unprepared when Hikari lashed out, kicked the side of Mori's leg. The girl dropped to one knee as the leg collapsed under her.

Mori dropped her arms lower, barely managing to block the follow up strike by Hikari's other foot. Hikari paused for a moment, her leg still against Mori's arm. In the second that she hesitated, Mori attacked.

Mori jabbed at Hikari's face. The faunus jerked her head back to avoid the jab. This left her wide open however, a fact that Mori immediately took advantage of. Grabbing ahold of Hikari's legs, Mori yanked the faunus's legs out from under her.

Mori's fist smashed into Hikari's face, decking the faunus, who hit the ground hard. Hikari barely managed to twist to the side, Mori's fist smashing into the ground beside her. The ground was crushed and cracked where Mori's fist had impacted it.

Hikari levered herself up, supporting her body with her arms as she swung her leg around, the heel of her boot colliding hard with Mori's side. Mori took the kick, and struck out with her fist to return the gesture. The two continued to trade blows, separating and coming back together in a flurry of strikes.

As the two separated again, Hikari changed the flow of the fight, bringing up her left are as the crossbow unfolded again. Before she could let the arrow fly, Mori responded by using her semblance. A soft light green glow surrounded her, as her gauntlet again became a shield. Now her only weapon, Mori raised the shield, ready to deflect the arrow that was sure to come.

The two froze, waiting for a chance to get the upper hand over the other. The tension in the room was almost palpable, so thick you could slice it with a knife. Warily, Mori eyed her opponent as she circle around Hikari, in an attempt to retrieve Yaju. She froze however, as an arrow sparked off the ground beside her.

The two continued to stare at each other, the standoff stretching for one minute, and then two minutes. Mori could feel as sweat dripped down the side of her face, but she refused to brush it away, afraid that taking her eyes off the faunus for even a moment could spell defeat.

_**Clap clap clap~**_

The two girls both jumped at the sound of someone clapping in the room, the noise echoing through the now silent room. In response, the girls leapt toward each other rather than freezing in place. Mori slid to a stop in front, her shield raised as she took a protective stance to face the direction of the sound. As she did so, Hikari stopped behind Mori, her crossbow aimed over her friends shoulder at the unknown person.

"Now, now, first years, I'm not here to fight" the new entrant said. "I'm just here showing a new student around with my friend here." The girl who addressed them was much taller than the two members of MASH. Both of the girls relaxed their stances, and Hikari walked off to retrieve their weapons as Mori approached the girl. As she did, Mori saw that she was not alone, but in fact there were two other girls with her. One was obviously a faunus, two large rabbit ears extending from her head, was about Hikari's height, as was the third girl.

The girl in the lead stuck out her hand, which Mori grasped and shook politely. "My name is Coco" the girl said, "And the other second year girl is my teammate, Velvet."

"Hello, there." the faunus girl said in a friendly tone, a smile on her face as she waved to Mori. Mori returned the smile, and raised her hand in response to her.

"Well then, what can I do for you?" Mori asked Coco as Hikari finally returned carrying both Yaju as well as her own scythe. Coco waited as Mori sheathed her weapon before answering her.

"Well, Reza was interested in the facilities here, as she is transferring here, as will the rest of her team be soon. So, we decided to check out the training arena, and happened upon this rather interesting bout of yours. Not bad for first years. I'd say you guys could give some of us second years a run for their money" Coco said, as Mori nodded in thanks. Both Hikari, whom Mori knew wasn't fond of strangers, and the third girl, Reza, had yet to talk.

"But down to business. As second years, we aren't really supposed to go around in the first year's dormitories. I was hoping that the pair of you could take Reza here around them, as well as some of the rest of the campus." Coco said.

Mori looked at Hikari, who shrugged in response. "Sure, I don't see why not."

"Well then, that settles that I'd say. Thank you so much for your help. Now, let's go Velvet, we still need to finish that report before class tomorrow." Both Coco and Velvet left the room, leaving Mori and Hikari with the new student.

The girl fidgeted nervously as Mori and Hikari looked at her for a moment. Mori then finally address the girl. "So, they said your name was Reza, is that right?"

The girl nodded, and spoke quietly. "Y-yes. Reza, Reza Kakusu."

Mori grinned. Suddenly, she then threw out her right arm, a thumbs up with a big grin on her face, the other hand on her hip. "Nice to meet you Reza! My name's Mori, and this here's Hikari. Don't listen to her though, nothing she says is ever important."

"Hey!" said Hikari in mock offense. Mori stuck her tongue out at her in response.

"It's nice to meet you too." Reza said quietly.

Reza wore a dark brown collared jacket that went down to her waist, the lower portion of the front slightly open at the waistline, with a pair of red cargo shorts overtop fallow brown leggings. From the sleeves, Mori could barely make out what looked to be like the ends of chains hidden within the girl's sleeves. A pair of gray garters hung by both of her thighs, connected to a black belt around the Reza's waist, and a pair of red and brown shoes adorned her feet. Her ruby red hair was up in a high ponytail, her bangs falling around her yellow-green eyes. As Mori took in the girl's appearance, a small forked tongue flicked out of Reza's mouth for a moment.

"Are you a faunus?" Mori asked Reza. The girl nodded, not saying a word. "Cool! So is Hikari here, but I bet you can see that for yourself." Mori continued, as she gestured to her friend. Hikari pointed up at her bat ears. They twitched as she did so, causing Reza to giggle a little. "There we go!" exclaimed Mori, "Now we are getting her to open up!"

However, Reza's laughter didn't last long. 'Hmmm' Mori thought, 'She must be really shy. Kinda like Shiruba, I guess.' The girl paused for a moment, lost in her thoughts. "Well," she said, taking a step towards the door, looking to both Reza and Hikari as she did, "I guess we should start showing you around, Reza. Come on, let's go!" With that, Mori lead the way out of the room, the two girls following behind her.

The group wandered around, chatting as Mori lead them to different places around the campus. "So, Reza" said Mori, attempting to strike up a conversation with the shy girl, "What made you want to transfer here to Beacon?"

"N-nothing in particular," Reza quietly answered, "It was mostly up to the others in my team. They were the ones more interested in coming."

"Oh! That reminds me! Coco said that you arrived here before the rest of your team? Why didn't they come with you, especially if they were the ones who wanted to come?" Mori asked

"The others had some stuff to do, m-make-up tests and other things. So, I came before them to get settled in." the girl answered.

'She definitely doesn't use more words that she has to, does she?' Mori thought to herself. 'Really, she is so much like him.' Mori continued on, again internally comparing this new girl to her brother. 'Though the stutter is a nice touch. Kinda cute.'

"Hey, Reza." Mori said.

"Y-yes? What is it?" the girl stuttered out.

'That's really stinking cute,' Mori thought to herself. "Do you know where you room is, or which dormitory you'll be in?"

"Not really," said Reza. "I have it written down here," she continued as she handed Mori a slip of paper, "But I don't really know where it is."

Mori looked at the paper for a moment. "Hey, Hikari?"

"What do you need now?" asked the faunus girl.

"Look at this, and tell me if you are seeing what I am seeing." Mori told her.

Hikari walked up beside Mori, and looked over her shoulder at the piece of paper. Written on it was the dormitory that Reza, and the rest of her team when they got here, would be staying in for their time at Beacon. "Why, yes, I believe it is what you think it is." Hikari answered her.

"What? What's wrong?" Reza asked them worriedly.

Mori looked at Reza. "Well, that makes it simpler." She gave a large grin to the worried girl, both hands on her hips. "It looks like from now on, we are neighbors!"

Reza froze for a moment. "What?"

"What she means to say," Hikari answered the confused girl, "is that your dorm room just happens to be right next to our own."

Reza blinked in surprise. "Really?..."

Before she could say anything more, Mori grabbed her hand. "Come on!" she called over her shoulder, as she dragged the girl towards the dormitories, Hikari jogging to catch up with them.

_**Later~**_

Shiruba lay on his bed reading, his cane Tsukiakari propped up against the bed next to him. On the other side of the room, Aoi sat at one of the tables the group had somehow managed to stuff inside the room, preforming maintenance on his sword and shield Moretsuna hogo-sha, as well as him armor, all of which was scattered over the table.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and Mori strode into the room triumphantly, dragging someone by the arm behind her. Shiruba, out of instinct, immediately gathered up Tsukiakari and pushed himself into the back corner of his bed.

Aoi on the other hand, just sat there and looked over his shoulder at the new arrivals. "Hey, Mori, what's up?" he asked with a smile.

"Hey, Aoi." said Hikari as she waved to the knight from the doorway behind Mori, a smile on her face. The knight smiled with a wave in return.

"I've got somebody for you to meet!" exclaimed Mori, and she pulled the girl from behind her, positioning her in the center of the room. Shiruba took note of the girl, who nervously looked down at her feet as Shiruba and Aoi looked at her.

Slowly, Aoi got up and turned around to face the girl as he walked over to her. Ashe stood there, the height difference was easily noticeable, as Aoi towered over the girl. 'Well' thought Shiruba, 'He towers over everyone in here, so no surprise there.'

The girl shifted nervously as Aoi stood nervously, before finally looking up at him. She blinked in surprise at the large grin that was spread over Aoi's face. Nice to meet you!" said Aoi as he introduced himself to her, "My name is Aoi."

'He seems nice.' Reza thought to herself as he spoke.

"And the stick of a guy over there" Aoi continued, "Is Shiruba, our team leader."

Reza looked over to see Shiruba sitting on his bed, pushed back against the wall. The look in his eyes surprised her. Warm, but at the same time cautious and calculating. Reza was surprised that he would be the team leader, as his personality seemed much less outgoing than those of his teammates. Shiruba nodded, just barely, but enough for Reza to be able to see it. She responded in turn, a gentle nod back at him.

"And guess what!" exclaimed Mori. "Reza here's a transfer student from Atlas!

"That's pretty cool!" said Aoi, with a warm smile on his face.

"Plus, she and her team have the room next to us!" Mori continued. "How awesome is that?"

"That's great!" said Aoi

"Now now you two, that's enough" said Hikari. "Reza here seems tired, how about we let her leave and go to her room?"

The other two reluctantly agreed, and Reza left the room after having thanked both Mori and Hikari for helping her.

"She seems nice." Aoi said.

The others agreed with him, but Shiruba couldn't help the strange look that flashed over Hikari's face. So quick did it disappear, that Shiruba wasn't quite that he had actually seen it. 'Oh, well.' he thought to himself as Aoi went back to his work on his equipment.

_**~There you go guys! A new character, as well as the (slight) introductions for both Velvet and Coco. What do you think, should they appear in the story more? Lemme know in the comments! I, and my artist friends who do the concept art pieces as well as own some of the characters love to hear what you guys have to say!**_

_**Happy reading!**_

_**~Tyler**_


	21. CH 21: The Outbreak

_**A/N~ Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait on this chapter! I've been so busy with vacations and home emergencies…such as coming home to find our basement (including my room) partially flooded….that and I'm a lazy shit xD I'll refrain from all the complaining, and let you get right on with this chapter. We passed over 1000 views guys! Thanks so much! Happy reading!**_

_**Also note that this chapter was written in a spur of the moment deal, and I'm unsure as to how I actually feel about this one. I may also decide to rewrite the story in light of the developments of RWBY Volume 3. However all the OC's will stay in the story.**_

_**Welcome Blackheart 53 and DocZoidBerg as new followers!**_

_**HeroBladeRiyet: I bet you are curious! You'll just have to wait and see.**_

Shiruba lay looked up at the sky. Having finished classes for the day, he took advantage of his free time to stretch out in the sun atop one of the school buildings. Or more precisely, he was on top of the small area about the door to the roof of the building.

As he lay there enjoying the breeze and the sunlight, Shiruba's ears twitched as the door to the roof was opened. Shiruba leaned over to look over the ledge, and was surprised to see Reza step out into the light. He watched as she walked over to the railing, one hand held up to her ear. 'She's on the phone' Shiruba realized as the girl began to speak.

"Yes yes, I'm fine, nothing has happened" Reza said into the phone, "I got here safe and sound, no need to worry, ok? …. Hmm? Yes, I'm telling you it's fine, nothing went wrong….Yes…..Yes….Ok, but enough of that, I have something to tell you." Shiruba was about to sneak away, but what he heard next froze him in his tracks. "She's here….. Yes I'm sure it's her…. Can you get group together? I want to pull this off without a hitch, and the longer we sit on our butts waiting, the harder it will get…. Alright, I'll keep an eye on her." With that, the faunus girl lowered her hand, and put her phone back in her pocket.

Shiruba watched in silence as the girl turned, and went back through the door she had used before. Once she had, Shiruba let out a sigh of relief, and sat down. Thoughts were spinning through his head. 'Who was it that Reza was looking for, and we could she have been talking to?' Shiruba looked off into the distance for a moment. He then shook his head. "Nah, it must be nothing" he said to himself, "But still, I should keep an eye on our new neighbor..." With that Shiruba dropped down onto the roof, and headed back inside.

Shiruba said nothing as the group continued along the path. With him were the rest of his team, as well as Reza, who had tagged along with the group as they headed to the training grounds.

The newcomer had dropped by their room as they had been getting their combat kits together for a training session, and had asked to come along. The others had immediately agreed to it.

Shiruba hadn't said a word at the time. How could he have? Shiruba had been on edge ever since he over-heard Reza's phone call with a mysterious person. It was probably nothing. Yet as he told himself this, he still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something going on. There had definitely been something off with her conversation. However, if he mentioned it, it would let her know that he had over-heard the whole thing. Not only could this put her on the defensive, but it if roved wrong, he could piss off everyone else. So, he kept his mouth shut as they entered the training area.

Shiruba ambled down the path, wondering in silence. Once the group had finished training, everyone had gone their separate ways for the time being. Mori and Reza had decided to go to the cafeteria, Aoi had said he was headed back to the dorm room, and Hikari followed Aoi without a word.

Shiruba's thought's turned back to Reza. Nothing had seemed off or different during the training session. She had seemed the same as she in the last few weeks it had been since she had arrived here at Beacon. She got along with the others, though she was still quiet like she had been when she first arrived at Beacon. 'Nothing like she had been during that phone call' Shiruba thought to himself, 'Could I be wrong here?'

Shiruba wandered around for a little longer before stopping at a tree. He recognized the tree as the one he had sat in when he had first arrived at Beacon himself, back when the only person he trusted was Mori. Reminiscing, Shiruba climbed into the tree, sitting in the same spot that he had on that day.

_**BOOM!**_

All of a sudden, the ground shook as an explosion tore through the far side of the academy. The breath was driven from Shiruba's chest as he hit the ground, having fallen from the tree due to the shockwave of the explosion. He shakily got to his feet as a bell started tolling, sounding the alarm in the school.

From where he was, Shiruba could see a large cloud of fire rising from the far side of the academy. 'Damn it!' he thought to himself as he sprinted back up the path, towards the explosion. 'What the hell is happening?' he continued, as he reached the edge of the more urban area of the academy grounds.

As he rounded the corner, what he saw made Shiruba stop in his tracks, stuck there like glue as he took in the sight of what was happening. Before him was a battlefield unlike anything he expected. There were his fellow students, fighting to protect their school. From where he was he could see team JNPR members Nora and Ren leading a counter-attack against the invaders.

As for the invaders, Shiruba was able to identify the White Fang. 'Why the hell are they attacking here?' he thought to himself as he spun his cane in his hand, the weapon changing forms to its Goblin form. Shiruba paused for a moment, and then began shooting. As he was off to the side of his fellow students, he had a sidelong view of the attackers, and was able to make out most of them. As his rifle clicked empty, he ejected the spent magazine with practiced ease, slapped a new one into the well, and chambered a fresh round.

As he shouldered the small rifle once again, Shiruba charged forward, and slid into cover against a fountain as he narrowly avoided a burst of bullets aimed in his direction. He peaked around the corner, and came face to face with the body of one of the Fang members. Without pausing to think, he reached out and gripped the vest the operative had been wearing, and dragged the body around the corner to where he was.

Shiruba began to rummage around in the operative's backpack until he found what he was looking for, a small radio that he decided they must be using. Shiruba held the radio up to his ear, and listened in to what the White Fang members were saying. What he heard made his blood chill.

"Keep looking! _Mori no ibuki_ is here somewhere! Capture her alive!" one of the Fang soldiers was yelling into his radio, "If anyone hurts _The Breath of the Forest_, we'll all pay!"

Shiruba's hands were shaking as he dropped the small radio. 'How?' he thought to himself, 'How did they know we were here?' He looked over his shoulder, but ducked back as bullets kicked up dirt and dust around him. "Shit!" Shiruba yelled, as he punched the ground in frustration.

Shiruba waited for a moment, and then leapt out of cover. Throwing caution to the wind, Shiruba charged the closest Fang member. The masked attacked attempted to bring his rifle around to bear on Shiruba, but the faunus instantly closed the distance. Not taking the time to transform his weapon, Shiruba smashed the Fang member in the face with the butt of his rifle. As the attacker hit the ground, Shiruba put two rounds into his back, and kept moving.

As he kept running, Shiruba caught a glance of Yang. Like him, she was charging the enemy. 'Reckless as always' Shiruba thought to himself. Never the less, Shiruba charged right after the blonde brawler.

"Hey there fox-boy!" Yang called out to him. She jumped to the side to avoid and explosion, and kept running. "How are you doing?"

Shiruba ignored her, and kept running. 'I have to find her, and fast' he thought to himself, twisting his body to put a few shots into another Fang member as they ran.

Yang charged ahead, only to be knocked back by a rather large opponent. "Oh you're a big fella. Alright, I'll take you on then." Yang cracked her knuckles, and looked over to Shiruba. "You gonna help me with this one?"

Shiruba didn't respond, and ran straight at the large attacker, not turning to avoid as the Fang member swung his large fist at Shiruba. Just before the fist connected with his head, Shiruba leapt upwards, flipping up and over the boxer. Planting his feet on the Fang member's back, Shiruba leapt off him and kept running.

"Hey fox boy!" Shiruba heard from behind him. "Where are you going? Are you gonna leave me here on my own?" Yang called out to him.

'Sorry Yang' Shiruba thought to himself as he ran on, 'but I have someone to find.' Shiruba rounded the corner, and saw Mori fighting off some attackers. Shiruba jolted as he realized that these weren't White Fang members attacking her. "Mori!" Shiruba called as he ran toward her.

"Shiruba!" Mori called out, smiling as she turned toward him. Their excitement at seeing each other was short-lived however, as Mori immediately had to leapt back to avoid an attack, and block another one.

Shiruba ran toward the group, shooting 2 of the attackers as he did, before leaping over the rest to reach Mori's side. As he came back to back with Mori, Shiruba ejected the now empty mag, and slapped a new one in. 'Shit' he thought to himself. Having just gotten out of a practice session before this attack, he had very little ammo left on him. Besides what was in his rifle, he only had one magazine left. However, now that he was with Mori, this was no longer a problem. Together, the two wiped out their attackers.

"Not a moment too soon there" Mori said as the finished off the last of this new group. "Thanks for coming to find me" she said as Shiruba looked off into the distance, looking for any other enemies.

"Of course I'd come find you" Shiruba said, "But more importantly, we need to get out of here."

"Why's that?" Mori asked him.

"They know who you are" Shiruba said as he turned to face her. "We can't afford to—Watch out!" Shiruba yelled. As he sprinted toward her, the world seemed to go in slow motion.

Mori's eyes widened as she turned around. She brought up an arm to protect herself, but was tackled to the ground. The attacker raised his arm, and slammed a syringe into Mori's side. She screamed out in pain as whatever was in the bottle was forced inside her. Shiruba reached them as the man tried to stand up. He brought cane around hard, and knocked the attacker away from Mori. As the man hit the ground, Shiruba brought his cane down on his head, and smashed the attackers head into the ground.

Shiruba stood above him, his sides heaving from exhaustion. He turned around to see Mori on her knees, holding her head in both hands. Shiruba took a step toward her. "Mori, are you-"

He was cut off as he was flung backward. Shiruba landed heavily on his back, and rolled over, struggling to get back to his feet. He looked up to see Mori screaming, her light green aura flashing around her, stronger and thicker than Shiruba had ever seen before. 'Shit' Shiruba thought to himself as he stumbled toward his sister, supporting himself on his cane, 'I have to get to her.' The air around Mori seemed to thicken, making it hard to move.

Shiruba reached out his left arm towards Mori as he struggled to reach her. "Mori, I'm coming! Don't worry!" he called to her. "Damn it, come on!" he swore at himself. Suddenly, something smashed his arm, and Shiruba was thrown back once again.

Shiruba landed on his back, dazed. He heard somebody screaming his name. 'Mori?' he thought. He tried to get up but found that he couldn't move. His last thought as he passed out was whether or not Mori was safe.

_**~ ~ ~ One Week Later**_

"Damn it!" swore Aoi as he burst into team JNPR's room. Yang looked up from the game she and the others of team RWBY, as well as team JNPR had been playing. She peered at the large knight, wondering what was wrong. "Shiruba's gone missing" He said, and everyone in the room froze. The faunus had been in the infirmary ever since the attack on the campus grounds. Immediately, everyone began asking questions, but Aoi held up his hand. "What's important is finding that numbskull. We can talk about it later." Everyone scattered to look for their friend.

Yang ran to check the training room before anything else. Not finding Shiruba there, she ran to her room to change into better clothes to run around in. As she walked in her room, she saw something that hadn't been on her bed before. Curious, she walked over to see what it was. Her breath caught as she picked up the piece of cloth. In her hand was Shiruba cloak. Confused, Yang walked over to the window and looked out.

As she peered out the window, she saw a figure on top one of the buildings. Remembering the day she had chased Shiruba up to that very roof, she, spun around and ran out of the room, the cloak still in her hands.

Yang burst out the door onto the roof, to find it empty and devoid of life. Slowly, she walked to the edge of the room, and put her hand on the railing that surrounded the roof. As she looked out across the campus area, she thought she saw movement, but just as quick as it disappeared, it was gone.

Yang looked at the cloak, still gripped in her hand. As she realized what it meant, tears came to the brawlers eyes. She slammed her fist down on the railing. "Damn it. What are you thinking fox-boy? Don't leave us Shiruba, we need you." Slowly, she sunk to the ground, clutching the cloak to herself. "I need you."

Shiruba didn't move as he watched the girl whom was both his rival, and one of his closest friends. His heart ached as he watched her begin to cry from his spot among the trees, across the campus. Shiruba clenched his teeth, and turned away. "Are you sure about this?" a voice asked him as he turned away, and Shiruba nodded.

"Yes. Come on, we need to get going if we are going to find anything to go off of" Shiruba answered.

"Ok, you're the boss" the voice responded. From the shadows stepped a girl. Taller than Shiruba by two inches, the muscular girl held a large backpack made of metal in one of her hands. She wore a gray T-shirt over a black, skin-tight long sleeve shirt that went up her neck. Overtop black leggings she wore a black skirt with a gray and white design on it. She also had on a pair of black boots and black gloves. Under her black hair where two purple eyes that looked at Shiruba.

"First things first though" Shiruba said as he walked away from beacon. "Take me to your mechanic. I need a new arm if we are going to take on the world" he continued as he took a look at the stump where his left arm had been.

"Don't worry" she said as she slung the backpack on, "He'll take care of you just fine. Also, don't worry about a fee. I may be a mercenary, but I don't charge old friends."

Shiruba looked over his shoulder at her. "Thanks" he said, and turned back as they continued on. "Now, let's go find my sister."

_**~ ~ ~ End of First Part**_

_**Well, there ya have it guys! Shiruba lost an arm, Mori is missing, Yang left in tears, and a new character! Now, I know it has been a long time since I've posted, and again, I apologize. To make up for it, I have some good news!**_

_**Once again, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!**_

_**~Tyler**_


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